THERE were hugs, backslaps. There were squeals of joy. And there were tears.
Lots of them.
That's what happens when, after 55 years of waiting, after seven preliminary final defeats, some in the most heartbreaking manner possible, the footy gods decided to smile upon the Western Bulldogs.
The Whitten Oval, make that the entire western suburbs of Melbourne, was seemingly relocated 1000kms to the west of Sydney. The crowd was strongly pro-Bulldogs and the noise that greeted the final siren, the song and the players thanking the supporters, would have sounded no louder had the game been at Etihad Stadium or the MCG.
Coach Luke Beveridge and his assistants were in the rooms well before the players. Beveridge doesn't usually give too much away but his look was one of complete satisfaction. There is another game to play next week, even more important than the one just played, but that could wait just a little bit.
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But those around were struggling to keep the lid on. Assistant coach Rohan Smith played in the shocking 1997 loss to Adelaide. There is vision of him punching the ground in despair at the final siren that day. He shed a tear.
Stand-in skipper Easton Wood and assistant coach Rohan Smith. Picture: AFL Photos
His best mate Brad Johnson was there, reporting for Fox Footy. Bugger objectivity. He was fighting back the tears as well.
Fathers, mothers, sisters, brothers, wives and partners were all finding it difficult to wipe away the tears. President Peter Gordon was in the thick of things, as he should be. The Dogs are on the rise, he is at the helm making sure their bark is heard across Australia.
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But there was also a huge ovation for David Smorgon, the immediate past president of the Western Bulldogs. He was in charge for 16 years and he can tell some stories about the dim, dark days at the Dogs that will make your hair curl and your blood boil. Smorgon was already captured on national TV singing the song in the stands, accompanied by his brothers and many of their children.
Injured captain Bob Murphy couldn't help but join in the celebrations. Picture: AFL Photos
But in the inner sanctum, the room erupted when he and Gordon embraced in the middle. It was Gordon, then a bolshie young lawyer from Footscray, who averted the AFL-brokered takeover that would have created the Fitzroy Bulldogs in 1989.
And it was Smorgon who kept the bankers at bay, while changing the name of the club from Footscray to the Western Bulldogs, broadening the club's focus to embrace the entire western region (at one stage, before the Giants were even a twinkling in Andrew Demetriou's eyes, he thought the Dogs should embrace the west of Sydney as a growth market) and moving home games from the Whitten Oval to Etihad Stadium.
The giddiness didn't last too long. Football manager Ben Graham called the room to order – no mean order given the noise and excitement – and reminded of what was to come. The players had to be showered, dressed and on their way to the airport in a matter of minutes.
One reason the preliminary final was played at 5.15pm was that it could finish in time to get the Dogs home and into their own beds that night to start their preparation for the Grand Final.
The tight timing was understood. For so many in the room, the most exciting week of their lives was underway.
The Bulldogs savour an unforgettable preliminary final win. Picture: AFL Photos
