Macrae — who is in All-Australian contention after another prolific campaign in which he has played every game and is averaging more than 33 disposals — told the Sunday Age that captain Easton Wood and his deputy Marcus Bontempelli had stressed the importance of the Dogs taking care of themselves over the mid-year break, portending that 2019 was not yet a write-off.

“Until you’re mathematically out, you always have that belief. And especially with a group like ours, I feel like when we have a bit of momentum we’re a very strong team. I think it’s something that’s been very exciting for me to see, for the team," Macrae said.

Bulldogs star Marcus Bontempelli Credit:AAP Photos

"Maybe halfway through the year a few other teams may have accepted the season’s not going the way they wanted to, and we’re very proud of the way we’ve managed to turn that around, and as I touched on, have the destiny in our own hands of playing in finals.

“Over the bye week, we made a really strong point as a group to really look after ourselves over the bye, and really look to attack the second half of the year really strong. I remember Bonty just touching on that, that we don’t know how much we can achieve as a group and it’s really important to mentally and physically refreshed but come back really strong after the bye, and we obviously did that, and have performed really well since the bye.