The Western Bulldogs are coming off an impressive 2021 campaign that was soured by a late fade-out in last year's Grand Final to Melbourne.
The Doggies sat in the top two for most of the season before losing the last three games of the regular season to finish outside of the top four.
The side rallied in the finals to win three weeks in a row to earn a spot in the Grand Final, before their demise to Melbourne in the big dance.
Star players in Marcus Bontempelli and Jack Macrae had quality seasons, whilst the continual emergence of Bailey Smith, especially in finals, has been one that has impressed in the past season.
Luke Beveridge has a strong, star-studded lineup at his disposal that is expected to be premiership contenders once again, and will look to kick off their 2022 campaign with a redeeming win over rivals Melbourne at the MCG tonight.
With their premiership window still wide open, can the Doggies pounce on the opportunity? Only time will tell.
Ins: Sam Darcy [National Draft], Tim O'Brien [Hawthorn], Charlie Parker [Rookie Draft], Robbie McComb [Rookie Draft], Luke Cleary [National Draft], Arthur Jones [National Draft]
Outs: Easton Wood [retired], Patrick Lipinski [Collingwood], Lewis Young [Carlton], Lin Jong [retired], Will Hayes [delisted], Ben Cavarra [delisted]
After a fairytale premiership run in 2016, the Western Bulldogs have been somewhat disappointing in the time since, but returned to form last season that had them in the top two sides of the season.
However, as mentioned before, they couldn't get the job done against Melbourne in the Grand Final with a second-half fade-out that Bulldogs supporters will hope won't linger into this season.
The Doggies started off the season strongly, winning their first six games which set them up for a strong campaign.
Luke Beveridge's men sat inside the top two with Melbourne for the majority of the season before shooting themselves in the foot in the last three rounds, losing all three games to drop from second to fifth, blowing their double chance in finals.
Strong wins against Essendon, Brisbane and Port Adelaide had them making the Grand Final, but ultimately weren't able to take it all the way.
Star midfielder and captain Marcus Bontempelli led from the front, winning the club best and fairest, his fourth time winning the award, as well as finishing second in the Brownlow Medal count.
Josh Bruce was the Bulldogs' leading goalkicker with 48 goals, however, unfortunately, went down with an ACL injury late in the season, whilst Aaron Naughton was close behind with 40 goals.
The Doggies finished with 18 wins and 8 losses overall on the season, which they will look to build upon heading into their 2022 campaign.
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Star midfield: The Bulldogs hold one of the best midfield units in the entire competition. With the likes of Marcus Bontempelli, Jack Macrae, Tom Liberatore, Adam Treloar, Josh Dunkley, Bailey Smith and Lachie Hunter running the engine room, it's a scary sight for the opposition.
Macrae is a ball-magnet and can win it on the inside and outside, collecting an average of 33.9 disposals per game, a career-high for the 27-year old.
Bontempelli is a star and has firepower both in the middle and down forward, averaging a career-high 26.7 disposals and 31 goals in 2021. Similar same can be said about Adam Treloar, Bailey Smith and Josh Dunkley as goal-kicking midfielders.
Look out for the Bulldogs to have one of the most potent and dynamic midfields again in 2022.
Experience: There is a host of experience down at Whitten Oval that have played in big finals, including the 2016 premiership, with eight players lining up in tonight's season opener that featured in their drought-breaking flag win.
The Dogs are in a good position list wise, with the average age of the list being 25 years old which is the fourth oldest list in the competition, and have a good balance of youth coming through with the experienced players.
Younger players such as Bailey Smith and Cody Weightman, who both experienced a deep finals run last year, will only help the team moving forward in 2022 as they now know what the occasion is like, and can mount another attack on the premiership this season.
Ruck conundrum: One glaring weakness for the Bulldogs in 2021 was the ruck situation, as Luke Beveridge could not find a solution to their ruck woes.
Stefan Martin started out and finished the season as the Dogs' number one ruckman, but his season was plagued with injuries.
Tim English continues to develop as a ruckman, but was deployed by Beveridge mainly as a forward in 2021 who could then move into the ruck.
Midfielder Josh Dunkley was even used as a ruck around the ground at certain points of the season, which Beveridge would presumably rather not have.
The head coach will hope that English continues to develop, and even up and coming ruckman Jordon Sweet who showed promising signs in 2021, to take over from Stefan Martin as he comes to the back end of his career.
A well-rounded ruckman would be the finishing touch on a classy midfield unit and would help capitalise on the plethora of quality midfielders that Luke Beveridge has at his disposal.
Key defender stocks: The part of the ground where the Bulldogs run a bit thin is in their defence, particularly with their key defenders.
Alex Keath is the main key defender for the Dogs who holds down the main opposition key forward, but apart from Keith, the Dogs are lacking in consistent key defenders who can stop opposition scoring and play a role for Luke Beveridge and his team.
Zaine Cordy and Josh Schache are the two that come to mind when looking at the other key defender position at half-back, and whilst Schache played pretty well in defence last season, he's been utilised as a forward throughout the majority of his career.
The retirement of Easton Wood and the move of Lewis Young to Carlton compounds this lack of depth in defence that would worry some supporters and even Luke Beveridge, as they were exposed in last year's Grand Final, giving up 140 points.
The 'Bont' is the obvious choice for the star players at the Dogs, as he is arguably the best player in the competition.
His ability to accumulate possessions and use the ball effectively make him such an impactful player, and add in his goal-kicking prowess, and that takes him to another level.
As mentioned before, the Dogs skipper amassed career-highs in possessions and goals in 2021, with 26.7 disposals per game and 31 goals respectively.
His second place in the Brownlow and a fourth club best and fairest add to his growing list of accolades for the 26-year old.
A Brownlow medal fancy in 2022 but his main focus will be captaining his side to a premiership in September.
Aaron Naughton has already become one of the better forwards in the game, but he still has another level to go to, which he could achieve in 2022.
Naughton's forward prowess and contested marking ability is amongst the best in the competition, which could be a scary sight if he continues to improve, given he's only 22 years old.
The 195cm key forward kicked 47 goals across 25 games last season, and with fellow key forward Josh Bruce out for the first portion of the season, the Dogs will rely heavily on Naughton's production down forward, giving him a perfect opportunity to break out even further into Coleman Medal territory.
If Naughton can become more accurate in front of goal, as he kicked 40 behinds last year, then don't be surprised if he claims his first Coleman Medal come season's end.
Rounds 14 to 20 will be pivotal for the Bulldogs as they test their premiership credentials ahead of another likely finals campaign.
During this stretch, the Dogs play the Giants (A), Hawthorn (H), Brisbane (A), Sydney (A), St Kilda (H), Melbourne (H) and Geelong (A).
Out of all the games in this period, the Hawthorn and St Kilda game would be the only games where they would go in as comfortable favourites.
The Giants game is always a big game given their rivalry in the past few years, whilst away games to Brisbane, Sydney and Geelong will test the Bulldogs' adversity and resolve.
Finally, the Melbourne game at Marvel Stadium will always attract attention and would be the perfect tune-up ahead of finals to see where the Bulldogs are at against the reigning premiers.
It's hard to see the Bulldogs missing the top four like they did last year, and we're tipping them to jump back in the four in 2022.
The Bulldogs' star power is too hard to ignore, and with a nice balance of youth in the side, their premiership window is wide open and would be amongst the top favourites to take out the flag this season.
Bontempelli will continue to be great in the midfield whilst Naughton could take the next step to become the marquee forward in the game.
Look for the Bulldogs to be in the top four and are every chance to go one better in 2022.
Predicted position: 3rd