There will be no Matthew or Tom Boyd, no Dale Morris, no Luke Dahlhaus.

Jake Stringer won't be there and neither will Joel Hamling, Clay Smith, Jordan Roughead, Shane Biggs or Liam Picken.

And injured pair Caleb Daniel and Tom Liberatore face their own challenges to get there.

Over half of the Western Bulldogs team that defeated Sydney to deliver a drought-breaking grand final win in 2016 won't be part of the Dogs' upcoming finals series.

But Jason Johannisen believes the spirit of that storied line-up could help spark another barnstorming finals run.

The parallels are undeniable, with Luke Beveridge's men sitting in seventh spot and returning first-up to the scene of their famous 2016 preliminary final win.

"I think even players who didn't play in that 2016 premiership will take some confidence from knowing that some of the group have been there," Johannisen said.

"We've seen over the last few years that all you have to do is make (finals) and anything can happen.

"The regular season from now on is out the window and we have to focus on winning four games.

"It's always nice to have momentum, especially in the back half of the year going into finals.

"We're just gelling well as a team and when we play a good, consistent brand of footy we're going to be hard to beat."

The Dogs will go into their elimination final against GWS at Giants Stadium on Saturday week having thumped the Giants by 61 points at the same venue in round 22.

That was the seventh in an impressive run of eight victories from 11 games following the bye that propelled the Dogs into the finals.

Johannisen can't point to a watershed moment that turned things around during the bye week, but there is a pivotal game that sticks out in his mind.

The 15th-placed Bulldogs impressed few when they squeaked past Carlton, who were bottom at the time, coming out of the bye.

A fighting loss to third-placed Collingwood followed, but it was the win over Port Adelaide, who had just beaten ladder leaders Geelong, in the wet at Adelaide Oval that got the ball rolling.

"If there was a moment it was probably the good win with a young team against Port Adelaide," Johannisen said.

"That was a big moment for our footy club this year and we've kept the momentum going.

"We've played some quality opposition and even in our losses we've played some good footy."