CAPTAIN down early in the season, a spate of other long-term injuries and their teammates' resolve to fight all the way into a Grand Final.

That heroic tale of the Western Bulldogs' 2016 AFL triumph is being eerily repeated by the women's team bidding to win the NAB AFLW premiership at Ikon Park on Saturday.

Like captain Bob Murphy's season-ending knee injury in round three two years ago, skipper Katie Brennan was sidelined by an ankle ailment in the corresponding round.

And she still had restricted movement when she gallantly returned for the final-round win against Melbourne last Saturday night to help nail down top position on the ladder.

The AFL Bulldogs lost forward Tom Boyd and defender Jason Johannisen with shoulder and hamstring injuries for 11 and nine games respectively during that 2016 season. Forward Clay Smith sat out the first 11 rounds recovering from major knee surgery, while Tom Liberatore (ankle) and Jack Macrae (hamstring) each missed a month late in the home and away season.

This year, the club’s women's team has been rocked by a succession of bad luck, too.

First, Elysse Gamble, a forward-ruck option who missed only one game in the inaugural AFLW season, has failed to appear following an ankle injury in pre-season. Then, first-year midfielder Daria Bannister suffered a season-ending knee injury in the opening round. The following week, last year’s No.1 draft pick Isabel Huntington suffered a serious season-ending knee injury. And the skipper went down the next week (and could miss this week after being suspended, with an AFL Appeals Board to sit on Thursday).

The club’s AFL coach Luke Beveridge was one of several of the AFL team to emphasise the importance of persistence to their women’s team counterparts early in the AFLW season.

"We have a few chats with the boys and ‘Bevo’ also touched on a few things early in the year," defender Hannah Scott said.

"There are some similarities with the injuries we copped early. In their premiership-winning season, they had some horrific ones as well.

"It's definitely something that can galvanise a team and thus far we've been able to draw on the strength from that. The girls who have been injured have been absolutely amazing … to help us stay focused and ensure we're going out there with the right things in mind."

Scott knows she must be switched on from the first bounce as she and fellow key defender Lauren Spark try to control Brisbane's main goalkickers Sabrina Frederick-Traub and Jess Wuetschner in the Grand Final.

Spark held Frederick-Traub goalless in the Bulldogs' nine-point win in Brisbane in round two and, while Wuetschner kicked two goals, Scott countered with a rare scoring contribution herself.

"They are definitely their focal points. Frederick-Traub is extremely strong in the air and she's agile for her size once it hits the deck. ‘Woosha’ (Wuetschner) likes to swoop in and snap them from anywhere on that dangerous left (foot). So, it's definitely a tough forward line to match up," Scott said.

"We've got a really strong engine room in our midfield, but they have elite midfielders too and outside running power with ‘Ashy’ (Kaitlyn Ashmore) and (Emily) Bates. They'll run all day.

"We've got to try to use our foot skills and reset the play and stop them running at us. We want to restrict their midfield entries and not have those easy entries where they can hit up a target."

Coach Paul Groves focused the group on the Grand Final immediately after the decisive victory over the Demons and Scott said the players are trying to shut out the reality of premiership glory being tantalisingly within reach.

"The relationship we have here at the Bulldogs, not just with the girls who run out but all the support staff, is pretty hard to put into words. It (winning a premiership) is something you don't want to get caught up thinking about too much because we have a lot of work to do before that can happen," Scott said.

"It would be absolutely amazing to repay Paul and Chris Grant (the club’s football director) and Peter Gordon (president) for all of the work they've put in to make this happen."