ABOUT seven kilometres separates the western suburb of Footscray and northern space known as Essendon, which fuels the basis for a geographic rivalry between its two football teams that will do battle on Saturday night at Etihad Stadium.

But in round 21, 2000, the more significant difference between the two was 11 points, when the Bulldogs secured an unexpected win over the previously undefeated Bombers, who were on their way to their first flag since 1993.

Current CEO Simon Garlick remembers that contest as one of the most passionate he was involved in, a "fairytale" game, and one that possessed a "bit of everything".

He also recalled it as a pure example of the tension between the neighbouring sides, with a heated half-time scuffle breaking out after an altercation between a young Brad Johnson and then-Essendon ruckman John Barnes that left the future Dogs' skipper floored.

"When I started with the Bulldogs in 1998, we were playing in preliminary finals and being a really competitive unit," Garlick told westernbulldogs.com.au this week.

"The Bombers were coming back to that famous year of 2000 and we were both at similar levels, and I know we at the club still love beating the Bombers and I'm sure it's very similar from their perspective.

"There's certainly something there that could be described as a real rivalry."

The Dogs needed the win to make the finals while the Bombers were keen to run through the year undefeated.

Garlick said an upset victory had been written off by punters and outsiders as "impossible", but then-coach Terry Wallace came up with a game plan to stifle the free-running red and black brigade. 

"It was a great game to be part of because they were such overwhelming favourites given their dominance that year, and certainly there was a lot of excitement and anticipation around them going through the year undefeated," he said.

"During the week, our coaching staff at the time had built it up as mission impossible - no one will think we'll be able to do it, everyone's written us off and chalked it in as a win to Essendon.

"It was a night that we pushed back a really significant flood and threw as many numbers back as we could, so it was a really dour affair.

"Essendon had been really free-flowing and basically had scored at will, so we tried to frustrate them as much as possible, stay in the game late and then try and attack from there, which ended up working really well."

Outside of the Johnson versus Barnes hit, Garlick remembered a tough effort from Tony Liberatore against Scott Lucas as a significant moment of the game, as well as Chris Grant's poignant late goal.

Interestingly, Johnson and Barnes ended up together at Whitten Oval when the latter took at job as ruck coach at the kennel following his 2001 retirement.

"They've made peace since then and now get along quite well," Garlick said.

"You find that's what occurs with AFL footballers. They know what happens on the field tends to be in the spirit of the battle, and I don't know the details of it intimately but I'm sure they got on with things pretty quickly and there was no issue.

"Barnesy's a pretty hard guy to dislike so it wasn't going to be something that would remain for a long time."

There is no point in using the match of 2000 as motivation this week, as Robert Murphy and mature-aged rookie Mitch Hahn are the only current players who were involved.

But Garlick remembers the game vividly, and believes it's a lesson that the unpredictable can always happen when it comes to the game.

"There's plenty of passionate games because footy is a game of emotion but that was certainly something that registers pretty clearly in the memory bank in terms of games played and highlights and wins that were unexpected," he said.

"That game had a bit of everything, a lot of spite, and given the fact our clubs are quite close in terms of where we are, the players from each team got to know each other pretty well off the field.

"Still, there was a real enthusiasm to get the points on the field as well.

"It was a full house and the Bombers were on fire, and it was a great night."

Jennifer Witham covers Western Bulldogs news for the AFL Website. Follow her on Twitter @AFL_JenWitham.