The Western Bulldogs are much better placed to convert their on-field success into off-field prosperity than the Kangaroos were two decades ago, says former North Melbourne chief executive Greg Miller.

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.