The Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs have got their NRL season off to a great start in 2016, something that’s entirely appropriate given that the club has some rather stunning NRL 2016 jerseys. We loved the home and away jerseys we looked at last month, but how do these two alternate jerseys stand up? Let’s dive in…
Let’s get one thing out of the way with the Bulldogs’ 2016 Heritage shirt… this might be one of our favourite shirts of the season. In the NRL. In rugby league. Hell in any code to be honest.
We love us some hoops at the best of times, this shouldn’t be news to any of you, but it’s rare that they’re executed in such a stunningly gorgeous way. We mean… just look at that…
Woof.
They’re not just there because they look pretty though – this being a Heritage shirt, there’s a historical reason that Canterbury has created this stunningly lovely design.
While the Bulldogs have been using the chevron design almost uninterrupted since the 60s, from the club’s first season in 1935 to around 1965, this irregular hooped pattern – colloquially known as ‘butcher’s stripes’ was the look of choice.
And what a look it is!
Canterbury has done a fantastic job of bringing the butcher’s stripes design into the 21st century, with the large hoops contrasting with thin blue and white pinstripes, while keeping the pattern away from the cluttered areas of the design – chest, shoulders and the main body of the rear – stops things getting messy.
As a Heritage shirt, this design will probably only be worn once this season, and while we understand the reality, it’s an absolutely crying shame – a shirt this good deserves more airtime.
The Bulldogs 2016 alternate shirt couldn’t be more of a contrast to the rightly super-traditional and classic Heritage jersey – this is about as modern as a rugby shirt gets, and it’s a testament to Canterbury’s range that the firm can produce two such strikingly different designs.
It’s basically an abstract, futuristic take on the Bulldogs’ alternate design, with the chevron on the front instead rendered in none-more-Tron style.
It’s a pretty cool and unusual take on it, the ‘abstract shield’ as Canterbury are calling it. A mix of black and white pinstripes accenting the striking, segmented pseudo-chevron. We really like the contrast of the diagonal pinstripes sublimated across the body of the jersey, too – another very modern touch.
The alternate shirt is a cool, unconventional twist on the standard, traditional Bulldogs alternate jersey, and we like it for that. It pales in comparison to the Heritage design, however – as do most other shirts to be honest.
It’s an exercise in clean, classy design that blends the proud history of one of the NRL’s oldest clubs with a design aesthetic that retains that simplicity even in the face of modern jersey demands and sponsorship.
Rugby Shirt Watch 