When Alex Rance missed the Richmond Tigers' 2019 premiership triumph, coach Damien Hardwick infamously likened his return to having "the number one draft pick".
The Bulldogs find themselves in a similar place. A healthy Sam Darcy has looked every bit the generational unicorn his boyhood club had him earmarked as, and when he returns from his latest setback, he will lift his team's floor and its ceiling, drastically.
Who then are some pieces the club can bring in to maximise the window in which Sam Darcy and living legend Marcus Bontempelli ply their trades together?
Those two, and the stellar auxiliary pieces around them (Ed Richards, Aaron Naughton, and the like) have the midfield and the front half as well stocked as any side in the competition. It's the backline that has needed work, and that still rings true now.
Who are some targets firmly in the sights of Luke Beveridge, Sam Power and co? And who are some that should be? Take a look!
Zak Butters
It's hardly their area of concern, but the idea of a midfield made up of Bontempelli, Ed Richards, Zak Butters and Tom Liberatore is the stuff of footballing fantasy. It's enough to send any purist foaming at the mouth.
It's a move that also just may extend Bontempelli's illustrious career. He's an athletic specimen with acute goal sense, aerial proficiency and a variety of ways to best a defender in a one-on-one situation with the pill hits the carpet.
The Bulldogs have been the frontrunners for the superstar's signature for months, given their location relative to that of Butters' family, as well as the footballing reasons.
The Bulldogs currently own their own first, second and third round draft picks for the next three drafts. You'd imagine a lot of those, and potentially a player or two, would have to go back Port's way, but Beveridge and co are odds-on favourites to procure the talismanic midfielder for a reason.
