"It was the happiest month of my life, seriously," he said of the AFL finals campaign which finally earned his old team a second premiership five years ago.

"I went to three of the four finals that year. When we beat GWS in the prelim thriller to make the grand final, it was so emotional and overwhelming."

Hailing from Braybrook in the Footscray District League, Groenewegen played for the Dogs in the lean years - accumulating 79 games between 1978 and '87 - midway between the club's flags of 1954 and 2016.

"We'd only made one other grand final - which we lost to Hawthorn in 1961 - and even the club song had a line which said "remember '54" and it became more and more embarrassing so they took that out of the song, which I always thought was amusing.

"I look back on my time there with enormous fondness. I grew up in Sunshine next to Footscray, going to all the suburban grounds around Melbourne. I was a big fan long before I played for them and after that I went back to being a fan again.

"I've been a staunch supporter my whole life and just love where the club's at and hope we can continue competing like this for years to come."

Moving to Tasmania to coach Glenorchy in 1988 ("When you become captain of the reserves you know your time is probably up"), Groenewegen ended up with North Launceston, captaining the club from 1991-92, winning a premiership in '95 and becoming venue manager of its home ground, UTAS Stadium.

It was at the same ground that the 61-year-old watched son, Joe, win the Darrel Baldock Medal as best afield in Launceston's TSL grand final win over his old club North earlier this month.

"I used to go to every AFL grand final with Joe and he'd say 'imagine watching the Bulldogs in one of these? We'd be nervous wrecks'. But in 2016 I was really confident that we'd win. They almost seemed invincible.

"Joe joined the army that year so could not come so I always said he was the moz.

"You go through stages as a player and supporter and wonder if the team will ever play in another grand final in your lifetime, let alone win one."

Joe, 29, and sisters Celia, 27, and Alicia, 32, are all mad Dogs supporters like their dad who is reasonably confident his old team can win against Melbourne on Saturday.

"For most of the year they have been top two so I think they have a really good mix," he said.

"A few injuries hurt but overall they've been really consistent and only really stumbled in the last few weeks when they lost to Hawthorn down here and fell out of the four.

"But they played the finals so well to turn that around so it's hard not to feel good about how they're playing.

"Melbourne just seem to me to be the most rounded team in every area so I think we are genuine underdogs and are going to have to play out of our skin to get over them ... but funny things happen in finals eh?"

The man universally known as Wagon said he would love to be able to pinpoint what led to the club's turnarounds in 2016 and this season.

"Luke Beveridge has had something to do with it. I do not know where that inner belief comes from but the club certainly seems more positive. The Dogs had not been terrible prior to that period, we made prelims in the '90s and 2000s.

"And look at Melbourne - they were almost there a couple of years ago, fell off the perch and are now back again. It's all about getting the right mojo in the team."

He may not be travelling to Perth on Saturday, but Groenewegen will still be cheering his side on.

"I think we can win. I'm not as confident as 2016 although you could argue we are playing the same way. If Melbourne play to their best, maybe not, but hopefully it will be a great grand final."