Afterall, exactly 12 months ago, he was standing in the exact same spot.
The scene he surveyed, however, was somewhat different. The walls were not draped in brown and gold, there was no Buddy Franklin bouncing around with a premiership cup held high, and there was no triumphant commotion booming across the room.
Instead, it was a shattered scene as Dew's former club Port Adelaide – the one he retired from at the end of 2006 – began to pick up the pieces after its 119-point loss to Geelong.
"I was watching their disappointment and feeling for the boys because I'd played with 95 per cent of them," Dew recalled, after the Hawks beat the Cats in this year's decider.
"I did stress I had the winning feeling in 2004 and then I saw the hurt last year, and that stuck with me.
"I tried to pass onto the boys that it's not often you get to finish the season on a happy note. My dad played in two losing grand finals in 20-odd years, and he probably hates me right now.
"But I'm just happy it came off."
Dew, 29, said he couldn't thank coach Alastair Clarkson for giving him an opportunity to resurrect his career, and for taking a punt on him when he initially presented as an overweight and out of condition former player late last year.
"I couldn't ask for anything more from Alastair, and all the coaches as well," he said.
"We had a lot of knockers along the way. When you present yourself at the draft, definitely as unfit as I was, there's only so much you can do over the pre-season.
"We had a little plan in place, and things get said but that's ok.
"Within the group, I was working hard to get the respect of the players and hopefully when I sit down and have a drink with them tonight, I've got their respect.
"I'm part of something special, because it's a fantastic club."
The reason the Hawks recruited Dew was for his explosive kicking ability and composure around goal.
In the third quarter of Saturday's game, he demonstrated just that with two long majors that helped turn the game on its head, after a leg injury forced him to abandon the Cats' quick forwards and move into attack.
"We can sit back now and say it was the best case scenario, but had it not come off, who knows?" he said, when asked if it was satisfying to achieve what the club wanted him for.
"The beauty of winning is that we don't have to worry about that now.
"We can sit back and say we all went in with no doubt. It's just a blessing. I'm just in the right place at the right time."
