Like the Kangaroos, the Bulldogs are traditionally one of Victoria's financial weaklings, having famously teetered on the brink of a merger with Fitzroy in 1989, and several other times faced financial hardship.

But the Dogs - and in particular president Peter Gordon - have spoken ambitiously about their plans to make the club envied both on and off the field after being released from the shackles of a six-decade long premiership drought last weekend when the club upset Sydney at the MCG to claim the club's first flag since 1954.

Despite the Kangaroos' on-field dominance in the second half of the 1990s, in which they made seven straight preliminary finals and won two premierships in 1996 and 1999, the Roos were unable to turn their wins into off-field stability. Their situation deteriorated to a point at which they nearly moved to the Gold Coast at the end of 2007.

Long-time football administrator Miller was the Roos' chief from 1995 to 2001. He said there were several reasons why the Dogs were more likely to capitalise on their breakthrough premiership than his own club did in that previous era. One of which was discarding the name "Footscray" 20 years ago, a move North Melbourne replicated between 1999 and 2007 - during which they were known as the Kangaroos - before reverting to the North Melbourne name.

"I think the Bulldogs made a clever move in becoming 'the Bulldogs'. When you're Footscray you're a suburban town," Miller said.

"As the Western Bulldogs, when you're linking yourself to Ballarat, you're opening up the corridor," he added, referring to the Bulldogs' five-year deal to play home games at Ballarat's Eureka Stadium, starting next season.

"They're now more primed to take advantage of the situation than the Kangaroos."

Perhaps more pertinent is the AFL's attitude towards its smaller clubs. Whereas two decades ago the league was looking at rationalisation, the AFL now appears committed to an 18-team competition with 10 teams in Victoria.

"The other big difference is the equalisation fund that's available to the clubs now, is far different. [It allows clubs] to market themselves and to employ people which we couldn't do after '96 and '99. We still had no money," Miller said.

"Probably if you had the money you would have gone out and marketed yourself more."

The situation has been helped further by the AFL's purchase in recent days of Etihad Stadium. The Docklands venue is home to both the Kangaroos and Bulldogs, but it has been hard for either club to profit from playing home games at the ground due to unfavourable stadium deals.

The league's acquisition will greatly assist the ground's tenant clubs, which also include St Kilda. The Bulldogs are set to make a major profit this year, and aim to be debt-free by 2020.

Miller also said it was important that the Bulldogs maintain strong on-field leadership. He pointed to the Roos' signature of former Geelong captain Leigh Colbert at the end off 1999 as the type of move the Dogs should consider.

"You've got to make sure that as your list moves on, you maintain good leadership around your club. So the Bulldogs post [Bob] Murphy, [Dale] Morris and [Matthew] Boyd have got to believe that their next batch of leaders have that leadership still bubbling along at their club," Miller said.

"You need that to keep the players' heads on the ground. I think [coach Luke] Beveridge would play a big part but the players themselves when they're on their own have to pull each other's heads in."