A LOT has changed in football since Don Ross helped Footscray to their one and only flag in 1954.
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But there's one thing the ruck-rover will never forget about that famous September day at the MCG.
“What really struck me that day was running out onto the ground,” he said.
“Everybody is roaring, your feet don't even touch the ground, you're just floating around.
“That was my highlight – we felt pretty well about winning the premiership, but I'll never forget that.”
The Bulldogs’ woes in September have been well-documented, and even Ross, who played alongside one of the game's greats in Ted Whitten, admitted to some surprise when the boys in red, white and blue toppled the GWS Giants on Saturday night.
“I honestly thought they were a year away,” he said.
“They've proved me wrong, I think they're in with a great shot now.
“They just look a close group.”
Ross, who started at centre in the winning grand final, said he had drawn a few comparisons between the 1954 and 2016 squads.
“I went through our team the other night – there were 11 of us in our early 20s,” he said.
“Most of us were in our third or fourth year with Footscray.”
Many of the similarities end there for the two sides though, as the game itself has changed radically since Ross won the premiership.
Gone are the days of working during the week before playing on the weekend.
It was the day jobs of a number of players, Ross included, that put Footscray's tilt at a flag at risk.
Posted in Puckapunyal to complete compulsory national service during the season, Ross very nearly missed the grand final, were it not for a slightly rebellious decision to bend the rules.
“Back then, you'd serve for three months and get three leave passes in that time,” Ross said.
“By the time the grand final rolled around I’d used all my leave for the semi-finals.
“One of the sergeants was a mad Footscray supporter, and he said ‘look, you have to go, you just can’t miss this’.”
Ross wasn’t the only one whose work got in the way.
Ross recounted how full-back Herb Henderson nearly missed the opening bounce.
“Back then everyone worked – some on the Saturday of the grand final,” he said.
“Herbie was a butcher, he’d started work that day at five in the morning, finished in the afternoon and raced home to grab his footy gear and get to the ground.
“He was in such a rush that he forgot his boots.
“He had to quickly drive back to Collingwood to pick them up, and he only just made it back in time.”
Ultimately though, Ross was hoping for the biggest change of all – another premiership cup for the Bulldogs.
“Poor old Footscray supporters have had a pretty lean time, haven’t they?” he said.
“We’ve been waiting 62 years for this to come about, it’s been a long time.”