On the back of against-the-odds wins against West Coast in Perth and Hawthorn at the MCG, the Western Bulldogs rode a wave of almost universal support for the first two weeks of the 2016 finals series.

As Preliminary Final weekend approached, that ride took thousands of Doggies fans 900 kilometres up the Hume Highway to the suburbs of Sydney to take on the AFL's newest side, Greater Western Sydney.

Fans of teams who were out of contention also hitched a ride on the ‘Bulldog Bandwagon’, almost as keen as diehard Doggies to see the finals fairytale continue.  For many of those diehard fans, the prospect of a Preliminary Final meeting against GWS conjured feelings of excitement and dread in equal parts.

The memories of Bulldogs’ skipper Ryan Griffen walking out on the Dogs and moving to the Giants in 2014 were still fresh and painful, and the fact that both the skipper (Callan Ward) and coach (Leon Cameron) were former Bulldog favourite sons added another layer of conflict to these emotions.

Perhaps overarching any concerns about the opposition, though, was that this was a Preliminary Final.  The fact that it had been 55 years since the Dogs had last won in the penultimate round of the season was difficult enough to swallow, but it was the memory of losing seven Preliminary Finals since — some in the most heartbreaking of circumstances — that really burned.

The thousands of fans who made the trip north were buoyed by those around them.  A convoy of cars with red, white and blue scarves billowing from them appeared to be heading up the Hume. Those travelling on the official Bulldogs bus got an extra surprise, receiving a personal letter of thanks from coach Luke Beveridge.  Beveridge went further, paying for the breakfasts of all on board when the bus stopped at Wodonga on the morning of the game.

Comedian and television host Wil Anderson, a prominent (and long-suffering) Bulldogs fan publicly declared the time had come to ‘reverse the curse’, alluding to those seven previous losses, and the fact that the year was '16, the reverse of '61, the year the Dogs had last won a Preliminary Final.

That win had come over Hawthorn, and the Dogs had completed the first part of the curse reversal by defeating the Hawks at the MCG a week earlier.  Now came the second part of the challenge: beating the Giants on their own turf.

Spotless Stadium, a boutique stadium in Sydney's west, painted a beautiful picture as the afternoon sun descended.  But as the siren sounded to signal the start the twilight Preliminary Final, many Bulldogs fans couldn't help but wonder if they would still see the venue as a place of beauty in two and a half hours' time.

The Dogs were forced to make one change to the side that had triumphed over the Hawks, with Fletcher Roberts replacing the unlucky Matt Suckling, who had succumbed to a troublesome achilles injury.

Bulldogs fans had an early wish come true with the Dogs making the early running in the match — which they had failed to do in both the Elimination and Semi-Final — with majors to Clay Smith and Tory Dickson giving the visitors a two-goal advantage early in proceedings.

The crowd reaction to those early goals also demonstrated just how many fans had made the trek from Footscray.  It was clear that the stadium contained at least as many, if not more, Dogs fans as GWS supporters.

Those fans had cause to scream even louder when stand-in skipper Easton Wood took one of the marks of the year midway through the term, but the remainder of the quarter belonged to the home side, and goals to Devon Smith and Jonathon Patton had the Giants within two points at the first break.

A Toby Greene smother and goal gave GWS the lead within a minute of the start of the second term, and minutes later the Bulldogs were reduced to three on the bench when a knock to the eye forced Jordan Roughead out of the match. 

The potential impact of Roughead's loss was huge, as he had been slated to shoulder the ruck duties for most of the night.  That task would now fall to young Tom Boyd, an ex-Giant himself who had come to the Dogs as part of Griffen's move north.

Moments later the Giants' co-captain also had his match ended, sustaining concussion from an accidental knee in a marking contest.  With both sides having lost pivotal players within minutes of each other, the game would now at least be played on an even keel.

A running goal to Smith restored the Bulldogs' lead, but the dangerous Greene marked and goaled to put the Giants ahead once more at the 11-minute mark.  The Dogs responded with a mark and goal to Dickson, and when Smith snapped his third the Bulldogs' lead was extended to eight points.

The Dogs dominated the next few minutes but against the run of play Patton snapped a goal to cut the margin to two before Clay Smith virtually stamped the second quarter as his own with a snap and goal just before half time.  Smith had kicked three for the term and four for the match, and the Dogs took a nine-point buffer into half time.

Nerves were tested in the third quarter when a run of three consecutive goals saw the Giants jump out to an 11-point lead, but the Bulldogs would not buckle.  Some brilliant work from Marcus Bontempelli resulted in a snapped goal to Zaine Cordy, and another snap from Caleb Daniel in the last minute before the three-quarter time siren had the Dogs within a point as the teams changed ends one last time.

Western Bulldogs fans' worst fears looked like being realised when Rory Lobb and Greene opened the last quarter with majors for the Giants.  The visitors led by 14 points, the biggest margin of the match.

Not for the first (or last) time, those fans were left to ponder the possibility that the Dogs' 2016 finals run had come to an end, and the prospect of an eighth consecutive Preliminary Final loss was very real.

The Dogs needed to dig as deep as they had done in Beveridge's time as coach — and they did.  Tory Dickson, who had had the yips a week earlier against Hawthorn, marked and kicked his third goal, and then some terrific combined defensive work involving Matthew Boyd, Jack Macrae and Josh Dunkley saw the ball find Jason Johannisen, who took off for the run of his life.

Bursting out of defence, his long kick found the loping Bontempelli, who paddled the ball to himself basketball style, settled and kick truly.  With nine and a half minutes left on the clock, the Dogs were ahead by a point.

Two minutes later the bullocking Cordy snapped his second and it was the Dogs by seven.  A Grand Final berth was within touching distance.  But the Giants would not lie down.

Patton kicked his fourth for GWS to cut the margin to one and then a behind to Johannisen followed by two to the Giants had scores level at 82 apiece with four minutes left.

For the Bulldogs it was now or never, and when Tom Liberatore found Macrae 20 metres from goal it looked as though it would indeed be 'now'.  Incredibly, Macrae had not kicked a goal since the very first round of the season, but he made no mistake.

With their team in front by six points, Bulldogs fans faced an excruciating final three minutes.  They had been in this position in a Preliminary Final before and lost.  Surely not this time.

The Dogs defended grimly.  With 35 seconds to go, Macrae found Liberatore with a handpass on the wing.  ‘Libba’ dished it off to Tom Boyd, who gave it to Jake Stringer.  Sizing up his options, Stringer spied Tory Dickson on his own 20 metres from goal and hit him with a pinpoint pass.

All Dickson had to do now was watch the clock tick down as he prepared to take his kick.  His post-siren shot found the woodwork but that did not matter.  The Bulldogs had won and would play in their first Grand Final for 55 years.

As the players embraced, tears flowed in the stands and on the terraces all around the ground.  They also flowed on the field, as first-half hero Clay Smith revealed he had lost a close mate as the result of an accident earlier in the week.

Tom Boyd had relished the challenge set by Roughead's early injury and played a third fine game in a row.  Luke Dahlhaus did not provide many spectacular highlights but nearly all of his 32 touches were vital.  Liam Picken, too, continued his fine finals series with 21 touches.

But it is almost unfair to single any player out, as it took a sustained effort from all 22 players (21 after Roughead's injury) to get the Bulldogs over the line and into the Grand Final.

The Bulldogs fans who made the trek of almost a thousand kilometres would now have to do it again, back to Melbourne.  But not one of them would have minded a bit.  It was just another part of the journey of a lifetime.

That journey would take them to the MCG a week later, and to a moment of glory not experienced by Bulldogs in 62 years.

MATCH DETAILS

GREATER WESTERN SYDNEY         2.1      5.2      9.7     12.11    (83)
WESTERN BULLDOGS                      2.3      6.5      9.6     13.11    (89)

GOALS
Greater Western Sydney: Patton 4, Greene 3, Lobb 3, D. Smith, Shaw
Western Bulldogs: C. Smith 4, Dickson 4, Cordy 2, Daniel, Bontempelli, Macrae 

BEST 
Greater Western Sydney: Kelly, Scully, Patton, Coniglio, Wilson, Greene
Western Bulldogs: C. Smith, Dahlhaus, Dickson, Morris, Wood, Johannisen, Macrae, Picken 

INJURIES 
Greater Western Sydney: Ward (concussion)
Western Bulldogs: Roughead (eye)

Reports: Nil

Umpires: Nicholls, Schmitt, Meredith 

Official crowd: 21,790 at Spotless Stadium