Fast-forward more than a decade and Ladson, who played 125 games for Hawthorn between 2002 and 2011, can hardly believe his luck. Two months ago, he and Rosa achieved their goal at their first attempt when they led Golden Square to the Bendigo league flag.

 

For the amiable Ladson, the recent premiership with Golden Square really was a case of first time lucky. It was his first season back at the club where his footy career began, and it was his first crack at senior coaching.

                                                

In contrast, it was Golden Square's fifth successive flag. And Rosa, who spent a number of seasons plying his trade in the VFL and WAFL after graduating from the Pioneers, has played in four of them.

 

"Simon was the captain, so that made it even more special," Ladson told AFL.com.au while driving through northern Victoria as part of his job as a Telstra customer service representative.

 

"I was pretty lucky to be able to come back and win a flag straight away. It's right up there with anything I've done in my time in footy."

 

Ladson looks back on his AFL career with pride. The skilful left-footer enjoyed 10 seasons at Hawthorn after being selected by the club with pick 16 in the 2001 NAB AFL Draft.

 

The highlight of his time wearing brown and gold was the 2008 Grand Final, in which Hawthorn shocked Geelong and pinched the premiership. Ladson is remembered fondly by Hawks fans for booting the sealing goal that day, from around 45m out, which put his team 33 points up with eight minutes remaining in the final quarter.

 

Three years later, a host of chronic injury problems led him to amicably part ways with Hawthorn.

 

"I was quite content to move on," he said. "I was about knackered."

 

Nevertheless, Ladson tried to get a short-term playing deal at another AFL club, and his name was linked to Greater Western Sydney for a time. When that failed to eventuate, he accepted a job as a development coach at Essendon. Part of his role was to be a playing assistant coach with the club's VFL team, then known as the Bendigo Bombers.

 

When gaps opened up in the VFL fixture, he also played a few games in Melbourne's amateur competition with St Kevin's Old Boys, which is coached by his former teammate Daniel Harford.

 

Ladson then decided to head home to Bendigo and link up with Golden Square. He was initially planning on being just a player, only to be talked into taking on the role as playing-coach.

 

Given he spent eight of his 10 seasons at Hawthorn playing under Alastair Clarkson, Ladson based his coaching around the many things he learned from 'Clarko'.

 

"I'm glad I didn't have to coach any ex-Hawthorn people, because they would have thought I was mini-Clarko this year, with some of the sayings I was pulling out," he admitted. "But, in all seriousness, you can't help but learn a lot from a guy like Clarko.

 

"I also had a lot to do with Ross Smith and Damien Hardwick as well during my career, and I learned a lot from them. You take a lot of things from other coaches and mould them into the coach you want to be."

 

When it came to on-field matters this year, Ladson was fortunate to be playing at all. He's only 29, but his body is seriously battered, his right knee the greatest of his concerns.

 

"I tried something different with my knee this year," he explained. "It was blood injections. They take the blood out of your arm, thin it out through a machine, then inject it into your knee. It worked bloody well."

 

Knee soreness forced Ladson to miss the opening round of the Bendigo league season, but he played every game after that. Roaming across half-forward, he kicked 27 goals in his 18 matches.

 

Although his knee felt OK most weeks, other injuries, including a fractured hip, made it a tough slog at times. Still, he proved his big-game credentials in the finals.

 

Golden Square was 34 points down at half-time in the second semi-final against Strathfieldsaye, but Ladson hauled his team back into the contest by kicking three goals early in the third quarter. The Bulldogs went on and won by eight points.

 

Despite jarring his knee in the first quarter of the Grand Final – an incident that left him with a chipped bone and some cartilage damage – Ladson kicked another three majors as Golden Square beat Strathfieldsaye by 21 points.

 

When the premiership celebrations finally died down, he decided to step away from coaching so that he can concentrate on squeezing the last drops out of his playing career. He will have knee and hip surgery next week in an attempt to patch up his limbs for the 2014 season.

 

"To be honest, I think I've got two years left of decent local footy," he said. "Then I'm going to have to pull the pin. Basically, I need a hip replacement and I'm running out of juice in my knee.

 

"But I just love football in general, and there's nothing better than running out each week with a group of mates and trying to get a win on the board. That's what makes me want to keep playing for as long as I can."

"The camaraderie with your teammates."

 

"The injuries. They give me the shits. I wouldn't mind coming off a ground without a broken bone one day."

 

"I don't want to be too hard on the umpires; they've got a very tough job. But I don't like over-umpiring. I'd like to see umpires let the game flow a bit more."

 

"Jarryd Roughead. I'm biased because he's my best mate, but I just think he is the most valuable player on anyone's list at the moment. He can play multiple positions and have a massive impact in all those positions."

 

"I lost count a long time ago. They've been a yearly event. I think I've about nine or 10 operations on my right knee, a couple on my other knee, two hip operations, so that gives you a rough idea. It's disappointing to have needed so much surgery, but that's the way it goes. On top of that, I've got arthritic joints. Every time I get out of surgery, the doctor tells me I won't be playing next year, but then I play. It's just a management thing."

 

"It's going to be interesting. I honestly believe they'll be right up there again. The group of guys they've got there, especially the senior guys, are a very self-driven group. It's always tough to stay ahead of the competition, that's for sure. But I think they'll be up there in the top four again. Clarko is a very special coach, which everyone knows. You don't last as long as him if you're a spud coach. He has some very special ways to make players keep improving."

 

Twitter: @AFL_AdamMcNicol