Lessons learned from last year’s elimination finals exit will help the Western Bulldogs as they prepare for another do-or-die finals situation in 2020.

The Bulldogs were humbled by the GWS Giants – both in a physical sense, and more importantly on the scoreboard – in their brief taste of finals football last season.

Skipper Marcus Bontempelli, who was in the heat of the action that day, said it certainly hadn’t been forgotten.

The challenge is balancing that preparedness for the added physicality of finals football alongside getting the game on their terms, according to senior coach Luke Beveridge.

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“Whether it’s a lesson or an awareness… when you think back to that final, it was pretty extreme,” Beveridge said.

“As I’ve said before, it was a credit to the GWS outfit to do what they did. They almost won the whole thing off that template.

“I think it’s just an awareness of how extreme the physical challenge of the game may be. Both teams will prepare for that. It’s tempering your focus on that with getting your core style established in the game.

“That’s our challenge and we’ll do our best to meet that head-on.”

The Bulldogs’ list has undergone a period of change since their 2016 success, with half of last year’s elimination final team getting their first taste of finals football.

Bontempelli believes the Bulldogs are better prepared to handle that intensity this year, based on growth within the group from that experience.

“I definitely think you acknowledge it and I think we did at the back-end of last year and with the way we wanted to handle this season,” Bontempelli said.

“Like Bevo mentioned, it’s a layer of the game that you need to be really prepared for. 

“I think we’ve been able to evolve and improve that part of our game, while not letting it distract us or hinder the other really strong parts of our game that make us a really good football team.”