Western Bulldog Robert Murphy admits to feeling anxious about the approaching finals campaign and the club's prospects of claiming its second-only premiership since joining the competition in 1925.
After labouring through last year's finals with a torn patella tendon, Murphy believes his return to full fitness this year mirrors the Bulldogs' improved overall preparations for September.
"From my own experience last year ... there's probably a little bit more anxiety and I think excitement is probably the overwhelming emotion at the moment," Murphy said.
"Last year our form wasn't all that great in the second-half of the year and we had a few injuries as well, but we're in much better nick than last year."
"This club, since I've been here, has come through a full cycle and we want to make the best of this while we can."
"There's a different smell in the air this time of year in Melbourne."
"It's a great time to still be training and playing - not just the young guys, it's good to see the older, grumpier guys have got a smile on their face as well."
Asked about the weight of external expectation from supporters and the media, Murphy said the Bulldogs were proud of their links with suburban Footscray and with the notion of being "working class heroes for a working class suburb".
He was keen to distance the Dogs of '09, however, from comparisons with the heroes of 1954 who defeated Melbourne in that year's VFL grand final to claim the club's one-and-only flag.
"We're aware of our club history and how we haven't got a lot in the trophy cabinet but whilst acknowledging that and paying homage to the guys from the '54 side it really is about us now," he said.
"We can't let that be an extra incentive or weigh us down, either way."
"It's about this group of Western Bulldogs players making our own history - that's what we're putting all our energy into."
"We don't think too much further beyond this week or what other sides are doing, we can't afford to, we're just grateful to be in the finals and to get stuck into it."