ALMOST 11 years ago to the day, the night his decorated 325-game career came to an end, Sydney legend Jude Bolton sought out a young and inexperienced teammate.
It was September 21, 2013, and Sydney had just lost a physical preliminary final against Fremantle by 25 points.
Amidst the devastation of the club's premiership defence ending, on the bus heading back to the team hotel in Perth, Bolton tapped rookie Dane Rampe on the shoulder to ask if he might take over his revered No.24 guernsey the following year.
Having announced a month earlier that he would retire at the end of the season, Bolton wanted to see the number he wore with such pride over 15 seasons go to the right person. Someone who would embody the club and its values like Bolton had done with distinction.
"I remember just thinking, you always want someone who's going to be super watchable," Bolton tells AFL.com.au. "I wanted to watch my kids grow up watching the No.24. They'd sort of grown accustomed to it.
"I remember tapping him on the shoulder and saying, 'I'd love you to wear my jumper, if you'd like', and thankfully he didn't knock me back. That would have been embarrassing".
The pair had played just 22 games together, overlapping at Sydney for only Bolton's final year at the club. But already, the then 23-year-old Rampe had shown he was the person Bolton was looking for to move from the No.43 to his famous No.24.
"I'd seen what he'd been able to do in that year. He'd shown his work to all his teammates," Bolton says.
"The change rooms were a bit of a square, it felt like the Monopoly board, and he was in those ordinary numbers down there. We used to say, 'He's in Old Kent Road', or one of those. I just loved the idea of him wearing the jumper."
The story of Rampe's unconventional journey to the AFL has been well told in the decade since. Overlooked in the 2010 draft, he spent three years playing VFL footy for Williamstown. Opportunities to train with the Western Bulldogs created hope that was ultimately dashed at the draft once again, and it was only once he returned to play local footy in Sydney that he was offered a chance at the Swans by way of the 2012 rookie draft.
Things were far more straightforward for Bolton some 14 years earlier when he took the more traditional path, drafted to Sydney with pick No.8 in 1998.
But even with such different journeys to get there, their ability to impact once offered a chance has proven to be very similar.
Bolton's 325 career games bore two premierships – 2005 and 2012 – as well as a reputation for being hard-working and intense on the field.
Across Rampe's 250 games to date, he has been a co-captain of the club, an All-Australian and a Sydney best and fairest winner, with the aim of adding a premiership medal to that haul on Saturday.
The intensity and willingness to work hard that was Bolton's trademark has lived on in the No.24 jumper.
"He's just shown how good a player he is. He was at that stage, and then became a captain of the club, an All-Australian," Bolton says.
"It's just been fantastic to see the leader he's become ... people look for that secret of what the club's about. But it's built with good people, and Dane epitomises that.
"He's just a genuine guy, cares for his teammates, cares for the club and the supporters, and he'll go out and do everything he can to get the team over the line. And he's gracious if that does occur, but also if it doesn't."
Rampe is a unique character and his efforts of doing everything he can for his team has thrown up some odd moments over the past decade, all of which Bolton has loved.
"He's competitive, but he's got the element of surprise. Climbing up posts," Bolton laughs.
"He's a bit of a space cadet at times, and I just love him for it. I just think his willingness to go one-on-one, he's a super hard match-up. I can still remember him doing the first pre-season as a rookie, and coming in and winning group one in the running was never an easy feat, and he was able to lead out the front.
"You sort of go 'This guy's built for footy, he's got the right approach' and I think that's been the impact throughout."
After 20 games this season, Rampe will play in his fourth Grand Final on Saturday, but he is yet to win the ultimate prize. He will be Sydney's second-most experienced player on the ground this weekend, behind Luke Parker.
Bolton believes a win on Saturday will be validation of a stunning if unusual career, while it would also be reward for the club's reliability in the 11 years since his retirement.
"I think it just validates you as a sportsman. It's what you set out to achieve at the start of every pre-season ... you've just got to go out and earn it," Bolton says.
"(The premiership), it's critical to entrench the club. They've been a really consistent side over the last decade or so, but they need to be able to deliver upon that now ... they need this validation of the team they've become.
"I think they're well poised because I felt they probably arrived a little bit early in 2022 and they got pushed around by a really hardened Geelong side.
"This year, they've shown they've been able to push teams around."