A LOT has changed since the Bulldogs and Demons last met in a final, but some things have remained the same.

That 1994 semi-final was played in front of 65,000-plus fans at the MCG, which Melbourne won handsomely by 79 points.

Skipper Garry Lyon had the game of his life, kicking 10 goals, while a young David Schwarz kicked two goals from 26 disposals and 12 marks.

In a football sense it wasn't much of a contest, as Melbourne got out to a 23-point quarter-time lead and staved off a brief Bulldogs rally with a 10-goal third quarter avalanche to put the game away.

Running through the teams that played that day almost 27 years ago, there's plenty of familiar surnames.

Some of those names we'll see again at Optus Stadium on September 25.

The Bulldogs have utilised the father-son rule as much as any club, and this is a great example of its romance.

Tony Liberatore, the ball-hunting, Brownlow Medal-winning father of Tom, and 130-game defender Mark Hunter, father of Lachie, both played on that overcast Melbourne afternoon.

'Libba' was quiet by his lofty standard with 14 disposals, while Hunter gathered 13.

On the winning side there was hard-running Melbourne midfielder Todd Viney, whose son Jack will play his 150th game in the 2021 Toyota AFL Grand Final.

Almost three decades on and three surnames will live on in the decider – and that's not to mention Scott West and Stephen Wallis, whose sons Rhylee and Mitch are also on the Dogs' list.

Plenty of other players that played that afternoon are still involved in footy, including current Greater Western Sydney coach Leon Cameron and Fox Footy commentator Brad Johnson.

But on Sunday week, it will be the names of Liberatore, Hunter and Viney that live on from the last team these teams met in September.