Imagine being a player in the first season of an Ovens and Murray career who makes a big enough impression to represent the league and then stars in the country championships.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
VFL clubs then start to circle before the player joins the strongest team of the era, Melbourne, about to win the first of three successive flags.
The Demons also think so highly of the player, they charter a small plane and fly him from Corowa to train at the MCG and invite them back as a guest of the club for grand final weekend.
Welcome to Jim Sandral's world in 1955.
The Herald's legendary football scribe, Alf Brown, dubbed him the "most sought after country footballer for many years" _ a truly meteoric rise considering Sandral had not played the sport until he was 16.
Sandral grew up on the Buraja family farm, Myambah, run by his parents Prosper and Sheila, and was the first of their four boys to attend a boarding school in Sydney, St Gregory's in Campbelltown.
Aged 12, Sandral made the first of many trips on a train journey from Corowa beginning mid-afternoon before arriving in Sydney around 5am the next day.
Rugby league was the sport of choice for St Gregory's students and Sandral found his niche in the second row.
But upon his return home at the end of 1948, a switch to Australian Rules was made when he joined Rennie even though Coreen league rival Buraja was located closer.
"We were 10 mile from Rennie and five and a half miles from Buraja," Sandral said.
"But Buraja had plenty of players at the time and they were a bit short at Rennie."
Despite being new to the game and being rebuked by the umpire for wearing his rugby league boots with steel stops in his first match, Sandral was a quick learner.
He made centre half-back, the position he would play the majority of his career in, his own in only his second season.
The first contact from a VFL club came at the age of 18 when he was offered the chance to do pre-season at Collingwood.
But Sandral stayed home on the farm and in 1952 won Rennie's best and fairest in a premiership winning season and finished runner-up to his coach Frank O'Leary in the Archie Dennis Medal.
In the following two seasons, he won the league medal and two more club best and fairests.
Late in 1954, he played for Corowa on permit and agreed to play for the Spiders the following year.
After just eight games, Sandral was selected to play for the O and M in the country championships held in Albury.
The long weekend carnival consisted of three games in three days and Sandral's star rose steeply when he was judged best-on-ground in two games and second best in the other.
Team-mates included former VFL players Jack Jones, Lance Mann and Tim Robb and the offers from Melbourne clubs began to flow.
North Melbourne guaranteed him six games the following year, but the Demons had the inside running courtesy of former player Ken Carlon, who had coached Rennie.
Melbourne secretary Jim Cardwell executed the rest with Sandral flying down for a midweek training session with the Demons in July 1955 before returning to play for Corowa the following Saturday.
"I think dad liked the MCG. He made the final decision," he said.
"Melbourne was a strong side and you had to earn your spot."
Coming off a premiership in 1955, spots were at a premium as Sandral soon discovered.
His inability to immediately break into the line-up didn't go unnoticed by rival clubs.
IN OTHER NEWS
Fitzroy guaranteed him a senior match for the rest of 1956 if he agreed to make the move.
"I wasn't getting a game," Sandral said.
"But I told (Fitzroy) I wouldn't be doing that and wanted to stay where I was.
"I wanted to back myself in and play in a premiership side."
His coach, Norm Smith, was tough, but had the midas touch at the time.
"He was one of the hardest men you'd meet," Sandral said.
"Whatever he said went. No one could backchat him.
"I got on alright with him, I had done National Service, so I was used to a bit of discipline.
"You played where you were picked.
"There was none of this coming in and saying where you wanted to play."
Sandral made his debut against the Lions in round four and played 15 matches in 1956 including the second semi-final and grand final wins over Collingwood.
He was 19th man in the second semi and came on at half-time to replace Geoff McGivern, who would be ruled out of the grand final due to injury, which allowed Sandral to start at half-forward.
The MCG had been upgraded ahead of the Olympics later in the year.
But the ground still wasn't big enough to accommodate the record 115,902 spectators with hundreds spilling onto the ground after the early closures of gates sparked riots outside.
"I went over the boundary line two or three times and was in among the crowd," Sandral said.
"People had their feet over the boundary line in some places and the police just couldn't stop them.
"It was the last time that happened."
Pre-sales of tickets to the grand final were introduced the following year.
The Demons coasted to a 73-point win with the 1956 team inducted into the Sport Australia Hall of Fame in 2004.
Sandral didn't stay in Melbourne for the Olympics because harvest awaited on a farm near Coreen he had bought.
He played a further seven games in 1957, not helped by a pre-season ankle injury he sustained playing Country Week cricket.
Sandral also informed the Demons of his intentions to return home in 1958.
"I told them I was going home and they were choosing someone for the next year ahead of me," he said.
"I should have said I'm staying.
"It was a bit of inexperience on my behalf.
"If I didn't have the farm in my name I would have stayed longer."
Corowa appointed him coach in 1958 and he won the first of three Morris Medals the following year.
Sandral was replaced as Corowa coach by a Collingwood opponent from the 1956 grand final, Frank Tuck.
The closest the Spiders came to winning a flag with Sandral in the ranks was 1963 when they were blown away in the grand final by an eight-goal final term from Benalla.
Sandral was back at Rennie as coach in 1968 when Corowa won a famous flag against Wodonga.
Melbourne is back in a grand final for only the third time since 1964 when the Demons last savoured premiership success.
"I think they've got a big chance," Sandral said.
"They score goals and you've got to score to win games.
"They are also young and fast."
Our journalists work hard to provide local, up-to-date news to the community. This is how you can continue to access our trusted content:
- Bookmark https://www.bordermail.com.au/
- Make sure you are signed up for our breaking and regular headlines newsletters
- Follow us on Twitter: @bordermail
- Follow us on Instagram @bordermail
- Follow us on Google News