The Western Bulldogs believe their development over the past year has them primed to upset St Kilda on Friday night to reach the AFL grand final.

Aside from being injury-free and confident, the Bulldogs insist they won't settle for a repeat of last year's exit on the penultimate weekend, when they lost to Geelong.

After surprising themselves in previous finals series, the Bulldogs say they now expect to beat St Kilda, and rate themselves a 50-50 chance to defeat a side that has lost two games this campaign.

"We're not there to make up the numbers, we want to play in the grand final and win a premiership - that's what you play for," midfielder Matthew Boyd said.

"We got close last year, at that time we probably didn't think we could get to that position.

"But we think we've grown as a team and we're ready to take the next step."

In an attempt to avenge the disappointment from last year, the Bulldogs this week revisited their loss to the Cats by watching a DVD of missed opportunities from the clash, and the reactions of senior players in the aftermath.

Football operations manager James Fantasia said the Bulldogs drew confidence from knowing how far they had come since that 29-point defeat, when they were still in the game during the third quarter.

"Our club, as a whole but certainly as a team, feel we're better prepared this time this year compared to this time last year. We get confidence from that," Fantasia said.

"As a club, we're growing. It was evident last week when the siren went and we'd won the game (against the Brisbane Lions).

"You celebrate the win but there was still a sense there was a job to be done.

"That's a sign we're maturing and have a better understanding of the competition.

If the Bulldogs are to earn a shot at breaking their 55-year premiership drought, they must reverse the results of the two comprehensive defeats to St Kilda earlier in the season, in rounds six and 17.

The Saints restricted the Bulldogs to a combined 20 goals in those two games, but Fantasia was confident there would be periods his side could slip the stranglehold.

"They have a capacity to squeeze the opportunity for you to score," he said.

"But equally we know that there'll be parts of the game where the momentum will go our way and we've got a midfield that can generate a lot of ball use so it's important we capitalise."

The Bulldogs considered recalling fit-again defender Tom Williams as a back-up option to stand on one of big Saints Nick Riewoldt or Justin Koschitzke.

But they kept the same side that beat the Lions.

St Kilda also kept an unchanged line-up following their win over Collingwood in the qualifying final.

Boyd, whose hard work this season paid off with All-Australian selection on Monday night, was preparing for a crucial job of trying to negate Saints star Lenny Hayes.

"He's probably the best in and under player in the comp, so if he gets his hands on the ball he usually gets it to the runners and then they hurt you. So he's a key," Boyd told radio station Triple M.

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