Before the lights had gone down at Spotless Stadium on Saturday night, the Giant-killing Western Bulldogs were on a plane back to Melbourne, the scenes of celebration having shifted quickly to quiet contemplation as they prepared for the biggest match of their lives.
 
Defender Shane Biggs, who'll face his old side, Sydney on the weekend said it was a relatively subdued plane ride home.

"There were a lot of tired boys," he told westernbulldogs.com.au
 
'I think everyone wanted to be excited but there was a few blokes with their head back and closed eyes, but it was a really exciting feeling.'
 
Biggs said the message from the coach post-match was simple: "enjoy the ride, embrace what ís coming."
 
'I don't think there's any running away from how big a thing it is, especially being the only Melbourne team in it, so his message was just to enjoy the week, and take it all in.'
 
But how do you prepare for something you've never experienced? Only former Hawk Matthew Suckling has been a part of a grand final side.
 
'I think it's the strength of our group, we're a sort of take it as it comes group, and for the most part, a pretty relaxed group.'
 
'There's not too many boys who get real nervous.' 
 
But before he finishes that last sentence, Biggs breaks into a wide smile and it's clear he's thinking about the notoriously tense Matthew Boyd.
 
'That's honestly who I was thinking of,' he laughed.
 
'But nah, I'll still be in his ear trying to get a laugh out of him.
 
'It's sort of my day-to-day mission, to make Boydy laugh and to stir him up a bit, so I'll definitely get him to laugh, I reckon.'
 
This leads to Biggs speculating on what sort of music the All-Australian listens to in his headphones pre-match, and he's put a surprising amount of thought into it.
 
'When he has headphones in, the boys are a bit scared to go up to him,' he says.
 
'I've actually thought about it heaps and I dare say it'd be like Creed or Nickleback, sort of early 2000s soft rock.'  
 
'He probably wouldn't like me saying that, but the cat's out of the bag now.'
 
Whatever the case, and however they prepare, Biggs, Boyd and the rest of the group will be ready to face the Swans on Saturday afternoon, they always are.