For Bulldogs fans, coaches and players alike, the lead-up to the 2021 AFL Grand Final will be very different to that of 2016.

For a start, the Dogs are on the other side of the country, 3400 kilometres from their home.

There will be no Grand Final parade, and no chance for Melbourne-based fans to drop in at VU Whitten Oval for the captain's run training session.

It will certainly be different to five years ago, but how does the Grand Final week we've come to know and love in the last couple of decades compare to the days leading into the last time the Dogs and Demons faced off in a premiership decider, back in 1954? A look back at the newspapers of the day gives us some clues.

While both teams have had a weekend off ahead of the 2021 Grand Final, in 1954 it was only the Bulldogs who were afforded that break. Under the old Final Four system, the Dogs were able to sit back and relax as Melbourne and Geelong fought out the Preliminary Final that year.

The Argus newspaper summed up the sentiment on the morning of the Preliminary Final:

Charlie Sutton's young Bulldogs are in that happy position which is the dream of every League coach. They rest today and, like giants refreshed, will meet today's winners in the grand final next Saturday.

Melbourne were the victors over Geelong (as they were in this year's preliminary final), and Sutton immediately set about planning for the Grand Final.

It would be fair to say that the start of Grand Final week 1954 for the Bulldogs was very different to what current coach Luke Beveridge would have planned.

A big charity event was staged on the Sunday at Western (now Whitten) Oval. The day of festivities, hosted by radio 3DB's Ron Casey and George Andrew, included the finish of the seven-day Sydney to Melbourne bike race, track cycling featuring the Footscray professional club, and a cycling match race between Bill Guyatt and Keith Reynolds, both champions of the era.

Also featuring were performances by the Kingsville and City of Yarraville Brass Band and, in echoes of the bye week leading into the 2016 AFL finals, a women's football match.

While the focus of the 2016 exhibition match at Whitten Oval was to celebrate the upcoming inaugural AFLW season and showcase the talents of players such as Daisy Pearce, Moana Hope and Katie Brennan, the 1954 women's match had a somewhat different tone, judging by the team names: Jack Collin's "Cuties" and Ted Whitten's "Explosives".

Once the cycling and women's match were done, the men had a full-scale training session, with captain-coach Charlie Sutton in charge. The players participated in solid one-on-one contests, and looked every bit a premiership team, with the exception of Sutton himself, who was hampered by a knee injury that had kept him out of the Dogs' semi-final win over Geelong. It would be a nervous week for Sutton and Footscray fans alike.

Monday's papers reported on Sutton's knee, expressing doubts about his ability to recover in time for the Grand Final, but the Age the following day reported that Sutton was expected to take his place in the team.

On Wednesday, three days before the Grand Final, at a time when every footy fan's mind was surely in the Grand Final, the Age ran a story about Bulldogs full-forward Jack Collins — but it made no mention of football! Instead, it revealed that Collins was expected to saddle up for another season of District Cricket with Foostcray.

Wednesday's Age also reported that Charlie Sutton had declared himself 100% certain to play, news that undoubtedly pleased Footscray fans more than hearing of Jack Collins's cricketing plans.

Friday's papers confirmed Sutton's selection, but flagged a concern about full-back Herb Henderson becoming "the victim of an influenza attack". Henderson trained lightly and then went home to bed.

The Age reported that he would be taking Friday off work, not for a Grand Final parade, but to "shake off the cold or prevent it developing any further".

Saturday morning's Argus focussed on the coaches and their wives. It reported that "Mrs. Charlie Sutton" (no mention of her first name) had declared that "I feel this is our year", as she poured a cup of tea from a pot covered in a red, white and blue tea cosy knitted by a supporter.

As for Charlie Sutton, he was confident of victory, and expressed that confidence with words we are unlikely to hear from Luke Beveridge this week: "We'll win our first VFL pennant today — and I'll tell you why. It's because we are a better all-round combination than Melbourne."

Sutton did temper those words by adding, "Please don't think for a moment that I'm cocky. I have a great admiration for the play and spirit of Melbourne."

While Sutton's overt confidence might seem incongruent with the more measured words of today's AFL coaches, Melbourne coach Norm Smith was just as publicly adamant. "We'll win alright", he said.

Of course we know now that as Saturday September 25 unfolded in 1954, it was Charlie Sutton whose confident prediction proved correct. Bulldogs fans will be hoping for the same outcome on September 25, 2021.