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WESTERN Bulldogs supporters can start dreaming of back-to-back premierships — if Champion Data is any guide.
The AFL’s official number cruncher believes the premiers will enter 2017 with the strongest list after an in-depth analysis of every club.
The Dogs’ glut of young talent runs deeper than the hyped Greater Western Sydney and even has the great Hawthorn teams of the past five years covered.
And North Melbourne will enter light on for star power, with just one player rated elite.
But coach Brad Scott can’t be blamed for his cull of veterans, given the Kangas only entered this season with two.
Four clubs — the Dogs, Giants, West Coast and Sydney — boast an AFL-high six elite superstars.
Last-minute signing Brett Deledio delivered the Giants their sixth, alongside Zac Williams, Devon Smith, Nick Haynes and All-Australians Heath Shaw and Toby Greene.
Of that group only Shaw began 2016 rated elite.
GWS trumped Dogs coach Luke Beveridge’s 11th-hour bid to snare Deledio, who walked out on Richmond.
Players rated in the top 10 per cent for their position are regarded as elite by Champion.
But it is the Bulldogs’ base which leaves the league in their wake.
Beneath their A-graders, Champion Data rates another 13 Dogs “above average” — No. 1 in the AFL.
The total of 19 men in the top two brackets beats Hawthorn’s 15, 15 and 16 from their golden 2013-2015 run.
And in an ominous sign for the premiership defence, six of Beveridge’s talented 19 did not feature in the historic premiership, but are all set to return in 2017.
They are captain Bob Murphy, Mitch Wallis, Marcus Adams, Lin Jong, Matthew Suckling and Stewart Crameri.
St Kilda great Nathan Burke lashed the Dogs’ list during the finals as “devoid of stars and marquee players”.
“They’ve (Hawthorn) got their four or five outright stars, the Bulldogs don’t have that, they are just playing very well as a team,” Burke said.
“For me, to have that dynasty you need four or five stars to build around.”
But Champion’s examination smashes that theory and delivers another tick to the shrewd drafting under chief recruiter Simon Dalrymple, completed off a shoestring budget, and the development program led by Chris Maple.
Brownlow Medallist Gerard Healy this year rated the Dogs’ four-year recruiting block the most successful he has seen, and Dalrymple called 12 of the names put up in lights by Champion.
Essendon and Brisbane Lions are the only clubs without an elite player. But the Bombers were hindered by the formula, which is calculated with a 75 per cent weighting to 2016.
Players must have played 10 games over the past two seasons to qualify and the Dons had their batch of superstars serving drug suspensions this season.
The shock defections of Sam Mitchell, Jordan Lewis and Brad Hill gutted the Hawks’, leaving them mid-table.
DAZZLING DOGGIES
Elite players: Mitch Wallis, Marcus Bontempelli, Bob Murphy, Matthew Boyd, Jake Stringer, Luke Dahlhaus.
Above-average players: Tom Liberatore, Jason Johannisen, Easton Wood, Jack Macrae, Stewart Crameri, Dale Morris, Lin Jong, Tory Dickson, Liam Picken, Caleb Daniel, Marcus Adams, Clay Smith, Matthew Suckling.
Ratings by: CHAMPION DATA
Pre-order Champion Data’s 2017 AFL Prospectus for $39.95
CHAMPION DATA 2017 LIST ANALYSIS
CLUB ELITE ABOVE AVERAGE TOTAL
Western Bulldogs 6 13 19
GWS Giants 6 11 17
West Coast 6 8 14
Adelaide 4 10 14
Sydney 6 7 13
St Kilda 1 11 12
Collingwood 2 10 12
Port Adelaide 3 7 10
Melbourne 2 8 10
Hawthorn 5 5 10
Geelong 5 4 9
Fremantle 3 6 9
Richmond 3 6 9
Gold Coast 3 5 8
North Melbourne 1 6 7
Essendon 0 7 7
Carlton 2 3 5
Brisbane Lions 0 3 3
and not yet.
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