It’s the true sign of something special when the difficult is made to look ridiculously easy.

In the second quarter last weekend Sam Darcy contested a mark, then before anyone else had found their bearings gathered and speared a handball in one action through the debris to Cooper Hynes, who snapped a goal.

It won’t make the ever-growing Darcy highlight reel but it was something a man of his size had no right to do.

Darcy is indicative of the Western Bulldogs right now. Even the basics are completed with an irresistible panache.

Their best footy is the most watchable in the league, and it might be the most attractive played for some time.

Aside from Darcy, there’s the perennial beauty of watching Marcus Bontempelli flow like liquid.

Bailey Dale’s dash. The economical inventiveness of Ed Richards. Joel Freijah’s lope. The athletic purity of Tim English and Aaron Naughton. Noted bustler Tom Liberatore knows his game so well, that he plays within its flags and never appears ragged.

Even the forever-maligned Rory Lobb now has a certain box-office appeal as he leaps and runs around the backline.

Football looks so natural when these Dogs play. Gargantuan thrashings are generally a cue to switch to Netflix, yet they make poundings essential viewing. Richmond, Essendon, Port Adelaide and St Kilda (twice) have all copped 70-point-plus hidings that have been artful.

And that’s the knock.

Flat track bully gets used more in football than its literal meaning in cricket these days, but that’s what they’re seen as. An incredibly attractive flat track bully, notwithstanding.

Footy’s Harlem Globetrotters beating up on the hapless Washington Generals, but get them a real team and they’re just as flakey as they’ve been since the 2021 Grand Final.

Or so it would appear.

Its efforts against the top nine teams have been much more admirable than a simple loss.

A six point loss against runaway leaders Collingwood in round two looks much better with time, as does the inexplicable giving up of a 39-point lead in the flukey surrounds of Norwood against Brisbane at Gather Round.

A ten-point thriller that was almost clinched at Gold Coast‘s Darwin fortress, and a 14-point loss at the Cats’ fortress where they kicked ten more behinds than the opposition, are further examples of playing on equal terms with the big boys.

Factoring in that the first two were Bont-less teams and none were at Marvel Stadium, the exposed form creates an argument that all would be 50-50 games in September.

Sam Darcy celebrates a goal. (Photo by Quinn Rooney/Getty Images)

If the Bulldogs had split these four, they’d be playing for second spot this weekend. It’s no consolation for Dogs devotees, but all four games rank among the best watches of the season.

Their most disappointing days were an early-season Fremantle away loss where they gave up six goals 13 minutes during the 2nd quarter, and a strangely lethargic performance against Hawthorn in Round 13.

Even then these were just 16 point and 22 point losses.

Coula, woulda, shoulda has left a rightful flag contender in the gridlocked lower reaches of the top 8. This is a team that could beat any other in a final.

It now needs to desperately avoid any slip ups from here.

The good news is that of its remaining nine games it would start favourite in eight of them currently, by virtue of ladder position and/or venue.

Three interstate September-seeking peers (Adelaide, GWS and Fremantle) at its Marvel Stadium home shape as ladder-vaulting games if they play something near their best footy.

Four also-ran match-ups (Essendon, North Melbourne, Melbourne and West Coast) should further fatten its importantly healthy percentage.

This leaves Brisbane at the Gabba as its major challenge on the run home, yet its biggest moment may come this Friday on the road against a resurgent Sydney.

It’s a game the Bulldogs should win, and it sets up a run home where top four is achievable.

Lose, and no matter how admirable and attractive, they’re back in the ruck fighting tooth and nail to get out of the 7th and 8th hot seats.

Just like they seem to be most years.

Any win at the SCG is hard-fought, so the Dogs will need grit with their glamour. Whether they do will give a perfect guide to what comes next.

Frankly it would be a wasted year of some of the most brilliant and exciting footy we’ve seen in years if this team doesn’t reach preliminary final weekend.

The way they play the game, it’s a ride that all neutral finals fans should be hoping like hell for in September.