IT HAS been almost 14 years since the curtain came down on Whitten Oval as an official match day venue, and Western Bulldogs fans haven't forgotten the memorable final game there.

Voted as the second most memorable moment by the club's fans at last month's Superstars of Whitten Oval function at Crown, the Dogs' final game at their home ground left an imprint on both the players involved and the crowd of 26,704.

Incidentally, that contest was against the Dogs' upcoming opponents West Coast, who have travelled to Melbourne ahead of Saturday's clash at Etihad Stadium.

There is plenty on the line this weekend, as there was back in round 21, 1997, with the Dogs looking to keep their finals hopes alive and the Eagles hoping to push for a top four spot.

The 1997 match, which the Dogs won by 18 points, was best remembered for the scuffle before the bounce, which former club games record holder Chris Grant recalled as inspirational.

Grant, who kicked three goals in the game - 1997 was the year in which he earned All Australian selection but was denied the Brownlow medal owing to a suspension - said the Danny Southern-inspired altercation was a statement from his team. 

"We were going into a finals series and West Coast had been a pretty good club and were known for being pretty physical," he said at the recent function.

"There was also an occasion where West Coast, a number of years before, had really taken it up to Leon Cameron when he was only in his first or second year as a slight wingman.

"I know the club had remembered that and we sort of felt that with the year we'd had, we [needed] something to define who we were and what we stood for.

"Of course, the backline - so they say - was the men's club and they took it upon themselves to go out and start harassing the opposition.

"[Michael] Gardiner was playing his first or second game and they chose him, but before that happened Matthew Dent thought he was going to be involved in the altercation with Gardiner, and [Jason] Ball got to him first so it started from there."

Grant said another famous game he was involved in at the Bulldogs was the round one clash of 1990 against St Kilda, which was the first game after the foiled merger with Fitzroy.

But he said that final game at Whitten Oval against the Eagles was just as, if not more, significant. 

"The amount of people that were at that ground … from the old change rooms, you could hear the crowd outside," he said.

"We were getting our ankles strapped and you could hear the crowd building outside.

"The amount of noise that was coming up the race … just the hum of how many people were there … when we ran out, they were literally hanging off the rafters and it was a shocking day, it had rained all night and we thought that would have kept the crowd away.

"But they wanted to be there for that last game at Whiten Oval and luckily we didn't let them down."

West Coast later complained to the AFL regarding the treatment of some of its players in the pre-siren clash, with Southern, Steven Kretiuk and Craig Ellis fined for intimidating play.