WESTERN Bulldogs captain Brad Johnson has reiterated his intention to let the dust settle on 2009 before committing to another season at AFL level.

Fresh from a heartbreaking preliminary final loss, Johnson wasn't in the mood for talking about his own situation, although the 33-year-old admitted he wanted to right the wrongs of his side's successive stumble at the penultimate stage.

"I haven't thought about any of that stuff at the moment," Johnson said when asked about 2010.

"I'll sit down with the club over the break now but I'm super-determined.

"We've all got that dream now with this footy club to achieve the ultimate and we won’t stop until we do."

Johnson, like coach Rodney Eade, was proud of his side in Friday night's seven-point loss to St Kilda.

The Bulldogs players slumped to the ground upon hearing the final siren, partly through exhaustion but primarily through the agony of knowing they let slip a chance to advance to the grand final.

"It was just the disappointment," Johnson said of the group's prolonged presence on the MCG after the game.

"We were probably more shell-shocked like, 'What just happened?'.

"We just got everyone together. It took a while to do that and the guys just had their moment and, as we've done all year, we came off together and we'll stick together."

The Bulldogs served it up to the Saints all night, leading at quarter time, half time and reclaiming the lead in the third and fourth terms.

"You certainly can't doubt the endeavour and the effort … it just didn't fall our way at the end of the day," Johnson said.

"We'll walk out [and] we'll keep our heads up.

"We know that we've got a little bit still to improve on and that's going to be our task over the summer months.

"At the moments we'll lick our wounds and reassess on Saturday morning."

Johnson praised the Saints for their season and said nothing could be taken anything away from a team that has lost just twice this year.

St Kilda looked like it might cruise away from the Dogs in the third term after booting the first three goals of the quarter.

But Johnson, who kicked a captain's goal to stem the flow, kept fighting along with his teammates.

"The guys held their nerve all night and that was really positive," he said.

"They got 11 points in front and the second half of that third quarter we fought back as hard as we could and we managed to hit the front.

"Credit to the guys. All 22 of us – including the coaches – put our heart and soul into this week and just fell short.

"I certainly take my hat off to my 21 teammates."