Current Carlton coach David Teague was only 19 and in his first season with the club, as part of an affiliation process with the then Murray Kangaroos, North Melbourne's reserve grade outfit in the VFL.

"Damian Houlihan would get heckled by opposition fans and players but all year he used to say, in a real slow tone, 'come GF day, come GF day'. I just always remembered it as a young fellow and the first time he said it, I was like, 'what does he mean, come GF day'? And then I worked it out, 'oh, come grand final day'," Teague recalled.

"And come grand final day, he just turned it on and after kicking his 10th about five minutes into the last quarter, he walked off, took his boots off and said, 'I'm done'."

The one-time Collingwood forward, who kicked three goals with his first three touches in 1994 as a teenager, had booted a record 10 goals in a grand final.

After 21 years, the drought was over.

"The crowd support was unbelievable and it was just the perfect game," oldest player Paul Bartlett said.

The 35-year-old has spent most of his life in Corowa and was old enough to remember the last few years of the Spiders and the subsequent merger.

"It was great to see people with smiles on their faces and just enjoying themselves, to see people that had put a lot of hard work into it," he said.

For fellow veterans John 'Juice' Kingston and Mark 'Pud' O'Donoghue, it was their last games.

"I remember 'Juice' and I started on the bench with Marc Harrap and Marc was on the ground pretty early and 'Juice' was annoying the absolute crap out of me because he was just that toey to get on," O'Donoghue said.

(Coach Peter Tossol) 'Toss' kept saying, 'I'll put you on' and I said, 'no, send 'Juice' on, he's annoying the crap out of me', so 'Juice' fortunately went on before me (laughs loudly)."

It's interesting that O'Donoghue wasn't desperate to get on in his final match after a long career, which included two goals on debut for North Melbourne in 1988, but the tough on-baller's body was shot.

"I'd broken my right hand twice during the season and 'Toss' had told me before that final training session, 'you've got to be able to mark the footy'," he explained.

"I'd only just got back from the second break, so I ran around that night at training doing everything I could to not go near the football.

"All I was concerned about was I just wanted to see this day through. I didn't want to end up in hospital or have surgery, I just wanted to enjoy the day for what it's worth, knowing it was my last game."

An extremely courageous player, O'Donoghue had suffered terrible injuries, including a couple of broken jaws and a horrendous compartment syndrome injury (where there is a build-up of pressure, due to either internal bleeding or a swelling of the tissues) to his right thigh, where he was rushed to Albury Base Hospital.

But Tossol was after just one more favour when it rained heavily the night before the game.

"'Toss' rang me up on Saturday night and spoke about starting me in the middle because of the chance of heavy conditions," he remembered.

"I said, 'you've got to be kidding, these young guys have got us exactly where we are today', and I was able to talk him around."

Those youngsters, like Teague, Glenn Joyce, Simon Mayhew and Co. tore the Hoppers apart, although North did kick the first goal.

From there though, the contest was a fizzer as the Roos piled on 27.18 (180) to 11.6 (72).

Remarkably, it could have been even worse for the Hoppers as the barnstorming Roos pushed the margin to 125 points midway through the final quarter before North responded with three late goals.

Assistant coach Houlihan bolted in the Did Simpson Medal and Scott Thomson also had a blinder with seven majors.

As you would expect, the Roos didn't have a bad player, with rugged midfielder Carl Dickins in inspirational form, Teague was outstanding, despite some tight checking, while Joyce, Mayhew and Scott Easdown also excelled.

In defence, Bartlett and Craig Tafft were magnificent.

There was even a lovely touch late in the game when veterans Bartlett, Kingston and O'Donoghue - all best and fairest winners - combined in a passing movement.

"I wish I got smart and I should have kicked it back to 'Juice' to rack up easy possessions, like they do in the AFL now," O'Donoghue laughed.

The only negative was a shocking dislocated ankle to star ruckman David Lucas.

O'Donoghue didn't think he would ever play in a Roos' premiership.

"Clubs like Corowa were really generational in regards to winning a flag, in today's world it's probably two generations really, it was great for the diehard supporters," he said.

It was also a special moment when enormously popular local Darrell Spencer hosted the club's inaugural premiership cup with Tossol.

"He (Tossol) probably wasn't a car salesman, he was genuine, he was authentic," Teague offered.

Two decades on and Teague's coaching has a few 'Toss' traits.

"I thought he connected with the players, he had real care for the players," he said.

"I think the coaches that have always got the best out of me are the ones that have been able to connect.

"I hope the players that I coach get the experience that they enjoy having a coach who cares for them."

IN OTHER NEWS:

The Roos claimed their second premiership in 2003 and there's no doubt the league is at its best when the smaller towns, like a Myrtleford, are firing.

Let's hope the Roos don't have to wait as long for their next as their first.