My Bulldog-watching journey started in the late 70s, but began in earnest around 1982.
For that reason, Kelvin Templeton is not in my top 10 given I just didn't see enough of him in the flesh.
And given the amount of quality players to filter through The Kennel in the past 44 years, he is not the only Brownlow Medallist to miss out my top 10.
Adam Cooney (still underrated), Brad Hardie (a magical 1985) and the legendary Tony Liberatore are other Brownlow winners to miss out.
Hardie's impact on the club was massive in just two years. Cooney and Liberatore (very underrated for his football ability) were desperately stiff to miss out.
Other special mentions go to Brian Royal (mid and forward dynamo), Stevie Wallis (rock hard), Ryan Griffen (silk), Matty Boyd (flag warrior), Bob Murphy (pure artistry), Brian Lake (was just as good at the Dogs), Daniel Cross (running machine), Rohan Smith (heart n soul half-back surger), Luke Darcy (won an AFLPA MVP) and Liam Picken (the GF performance was the cream).
Hello to some massive favourites not in that grouping: Steve MacPherson (toughness and skill), Stevie Kretiuk (scary hard) and Steve Kolyniuk (flair ahead of his time), Terry Wallace (dual best and fairest/head over ball), Lindsay Gilbee (just about best Dogs' kick I've seen), Jack Macrae (ball-winning machine/clutch prelim goal), Daniel Giansiracusa (versatile) and Ryan Hargrave (dependable cult figure).
Defenders often don't get enough love, and two are in my top 10.
Key forwards also deserve some extra credits and feature high up.
Here we go:
5Scott West
"Westy" has won seven Bulldogs best-and-fairest awards. Yep, you read that right.
He started as a flashy half-forward flanker and worked his way into a twinkle-toed, ball-winning machine so good at working in close in footy's "phone booth".
"Westy" played 324 games, was All-Australian five-times and was incredibly stiff not to win a Brownlow Medal - runner-up in 2000 and 2006.
He was robbed of the honour in 2000, level with Shane Woewodin and set to tie until "Woey" polled after 17 disposals in non-descript losing performance for the Dees in the final round.
Elevation to the AFL Hall of Fame went some way towards lessening the pain.
