A vastly improved Thurgoona has celebrated young skipper Tom Rake's 100-match milestone in style after an 81-point spanking of Tallangatta at Tallangatta on Saturday.
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Tough nut Daniel Kannenberg alongside Ewan Hampton were also celebrating 150 club matches in a big occasion at the kennel.
In a special moment for the family, Kannenberg also played alongside his son Eli for the second time of their careers.
Tallangatta's fab four of James Breen, Kaine Parsons alongside talented siblings Joel and Dan O'Connell threatened to spoil the celebrations early.
In form forwards Breen and Parsons combined for five goals in the first term with the O'Connell brothers running rampant in the midfield as the home side led by two points at the first break.
But it was all the Bulldogs after quarter-time as they buried the Hoppers with a 22-to-nine goal avalanche to eventually win 26.14 (170) to 14.5 (89).
The victory ensured the Bulldogs took a giant stride towards securing their first finals berth since 2019 which coincided with their most recent flag.
Daniel McAlister's charges sit fifth with a 5-3 record approaching the half-way point of the season with 10 wins expected to be enough to secure a top-five finish.
They face Dederang-Mt Beauty, Kiewa-Sandy Creek, Barnawartha and Wodonga Saints over the next four rounds.
The Bulldogs will start favourites except for the Hawks clash and if they can win the remaining three matches will have a stranglehold on a finals berth.
McAlister felt it was a ruthless display by the Bulldogs after quarter-time.
"It was a fairly dominant win in the end," McAlister said.
"The stakes were high for both clubs in regards to finals and my question to the playing group pre-match was 'how much do we want this?'
"To Tallangatta's credit, they started incredibly well and their two match-winners in Breen and Parsons were causing me plenty of headaches in the coaches box.
"Breen had three and Parsons two in the first-quarter, so I just had to reinforce the message at the first break that they were quality players and have been for a long time.
"If you give two guys that calibre with their footy IQ an inch... they will make you pay and their five goals in that first quarter looked seamless.
"So to get the win in the manner we did was a massive positive going forward."
Bulldog midfielders Tyson Neander and Lincoln Hardy whose reputation is growing by the week created plenty of opportunities for their forwards.
Rake celebrated his milestone match with six goals in an equal career-high haul.
Jake Bruce also booted six goals with Neander capping a polished display in the midfield with four majors.
Breen finished with five goals to take his season tally to 49 goals.
The talented spearhead is on track to crack the ton after Ethan Redcliffe reached the magical milestone for Mitta United last season.
In a sour note Breen received a yellow card in the final term for what The Border Mail believes was umpire abuse.
McAlister felt most wins away from home this season were an added bonus.
"You go to places like Tallangatta, Mitta and Beechworth, they are hard to win at," he said.
"So we just focussed on executing the team-orientated stuff that we have been working on.
"We resisted the temptation to make any changes in regards to the match-ups we had for Breen and Parsons after they got off the leash early.
"Nick Brennan played on Parsons but hurt himself and then Jack Muldoon went to him.
"Jayden Steinke was on Breen and stuck to his task after quarter time.
"To their credit they did a good job over the course of the match."
