The Bulldogs beat the house. They beat the odds. They beat the system. They beat the Giants, these Davids. And they're in the grand final for the first time for 55 years. In their rooms afterwards, legends cried. One said he honestly thought he would not live to see this day.

All hearts went out to Robert Murphy. As recently as 2013, he wrote of his sadness, but acceptance that the Dogs' premiership window had closed. Now, suddenly, it has been flung more wide open than ever, and all he can do is look through it. The Dogs will take him out there with them next week, anyway, like a talisman.

The AFL's project team succumbed to Victoria's adopted project team in an epic preliminary final. The Dogs' win was all the more meritorious in the light of the loss of ruckman Jordan Roughead mid-way through the second quarter because of an eye injury and concussion, leaving them crucially undermanned. The Giants lost captain Callan Ward at about the same time, but Roughead's absence was structurally more grievous.

It was the story of the Bulldogs season writ small, but so was their heart and drive and poise to win anyway. Three times at least, the Giants looked set to bolt, and three times, the Dogs refused to let them. They're playing way beyond their years, a stalwart said, his eyes brimming. The house always wins, but not when matched with these astonishing Bulldogs.