The Western Bulldogs will embrace the excitement of their first finals series since 2016, according to captain Easton Wood and coach Luke Beveridge.

Wood and Beveridge know all about riding the September wave, having led the Bulldogs to a famous premiership that year.

And while it’s a different team this time around – only eight members of Sunday’s team played in the grand final – the plan is to attack it with the same mindset.

“The first thing is just to enjoy it,” Wood said.

“So much work goes into every season and you don’t always get the chance to be in the pointy end in September.

“You’ve got to take the moment to really appreciate and enjoy fighting for that ultimate prize.

“Nothing changes. We’ve just got another game to play… we’ll keep doing exactly what we’ve been doing to get us into that position.”

The majority of the Bulldogs’ line-up will feature in an AFL final for the first time, when they meet the GWS Giants in Sydney on Saturday week.

“It’s an exciting time, and I think the younger guys get caught up in that,” Beveridge said.

“The vibe and the passion from our supporter base, the younger players definitely feed of that.

“We’ll try to foster and encourage that atmosphere definitely over the next two weeks.”

But despite their youthful make-up on paper, the Bulldogs are optimistic their best is good enough to match it with their fellow finals-bound teams.

Wins against the likes of GWS Giants and Essendon in recent weeks mean the Bulldogs will enter in strong form.

"The great thing with Bevo and the coaches, it's always been an element of 'Why not? Why can't it happen?'," Wood said.  

"It's special (to make the finals), particularly after where we were situated at the bye. 

"To have to win eight after only winning four in the first half of the year, we didn't think it was likely at the time. 

"This group's really jelled together, we play a really selfless brand of football and that's what has got us to this point, and I'm really proud of that."