Coached by Des Hasler and co-captained by Michael Ennis and Frank Pritchard, they competed in the National Rugby League's 2014 Telstra Premiership.
The Bulldogs started the regular season with a narrow loss to the Brisbane Broncos before accounting for the Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks in the second week of the competition.
Due to the impressive form of the team, several players were called up to play State Of Origin for New South Wales, which triggered a mid-season slump, during which the Bulldogs did not register a win for over a month.
The Bulldogs played arguably their best defensive game of the year in round 18, when they kept the Melbourne Storm to just 4 points and ran out winners by 2.
Injuries and suspensions played havoc during the end of the regular season and after having such good defence all year, the bulldogs let in 123 points in just four games against the Wests Tigers, the North Queensland Cowboys, the Penrith Panthers and the Brisbane Broncos, only managing 56 in return.
The game went down to the wire with the Bulldogs penalised as the full-time siren sounded, handing Penrith one final opportunity to level the scores.
The play did not work however and in eerily similar circumstances to 2004 the Bulldogs defeated the Panthers without the services of their captain in the second half to secure a grand final birth.