The Saints claimed the minor premiership last year winning 15 of their 18 games before marching into the grand final with a second semi-final triumph — their third for the season over the Blues. 

But two weeks later in the grand final the favourite was beaten by 37 points.

Today the Saints enter the grand final in a vastly different position. The Blues have dominated this season with 17 home-and-away wins, a second semi-final victory and a 3-0 head-to-head record over Koroit.

“We know we are underdogs,” Dowie said. “A lot of people are not giving us much chance. That’s OK, probably rightly so. We got smacked by them in the second semi-final. 

“We know if we can play the way we want to play and stop Warrnambool playing the way they want to play, we can be right in the game.”

Dowie said the Saints of 2014 were not looking back.

“Probably the motivation for us is we want to show we are a better side than the one that went out and did what we did in the second semi-final,” he said. “You only have to beat a side once and it doesn’t matter what’s really happened in the past. They are a really good side and we know we are as well. We have to avoid the temptation ‘oh it’s great to be there’. I’ve got this feeling there is a really strong mindset among the players and they are enjoying the underdog tag. 

“It’s a lot different mentality to last year. I know everyone has something to lose, but there is no doubt they have probably more to lose than what we have. They have been the dominant team for the last six or seven years and the expectation is ‘yep, they’re going to win’. It’s certainly a different feel to last year.”

Dowie said his players should not be written off after rebounding from the 12-goal second semi-final loss to defeat North Warrnambool Eagles by 25 points in Saturday’s preliminary final.

“It was a tough week last week in terms of leading up to the game and to come out and play like that, I knew they would. They are terrific characters and they have always answered challenges and question marks.”

Dowie said his side’s focus was on defence and winning contested possessions.

“I would be really disappointed if the pressure around the footy on the weekend is not manic,” he said.

“Warrnambool pride themselves on putting pressure on opponents. They are so good with the footy in their hands and they are good at pressuring opponents. If we can put them under our best level of intensity and pressure, hopefully that will force them into mistakes.

“I have got no doubt we can win and I’m sure the players believe that. The thing that will test us out is when we are challenged, can we stay in the game, can we respond, can we limit the damage? I think scoreboard pressure, the longer we stay in the game, then our confidence lifts, they start to get a little bit unsure ‘gee we aren’t putting them away on the scoreboard’ maybe they start going into their shells a little bit and the game changes.”