The Western Bulldogs need to seize their 2016 AFL premiership opportunity because they don't have the star power to challenge for the flag for very long.
So says St Kilda great Nathan Burke, who admires the way the Dogs have played as a team this season but also believes they must strike while the iron is hot.
"I know it's a young list (but) it's a list a little bit devoid of stars and marquee players who can carry them through for long periods of time like we've seen Hawthorn have - they've got four or five outright stars," Burke said on Fox Sports News on Wednesday.
"The Bulldogs don't have that - they're just playing very well as a team."
Burke, a member of the Saints' team of the century, played in just one grand final during his 323-game career; a loss to Adelaide in 1997.
He believes the Bulldogs will win their preliminary final against Greater Western Sydney, but backed the Giants to rebound quickly.
"You look at GWS and you say 'There's going to be a dynasty there for four or five years'," he said.
"The history of the Western Bulldogs Football Club tells me that they don't have dynasties.
"It's been the longest drought of any team to get into a grand final in the history of the game, they've got to seven preliminary finals and haven't got to the grand final and then they've gone backwards, then come forwards.
"The history of the club tells me they don't stay up for four, five, six, ten years in a row."
The Dogs last reached a grand final in 1961 when they were defeated by the Hawks, with their only flag achieved in 1954.
