Crawford was recounting his last days as an AFL player at the annual Carbine Club Grand Final Luncheon on Tuesday, after presenting the premiership cup as the silverware's 2013 ambassador.
In front of a full room of seated guests at Crown Palladium, Crawford spoke of his decision to retire after the Hawks' premiership and end his 305-game career on a high.
He also revealed the current Hawks are still "really hurting" from last year, which they'll carry with them when they go up against Fremantle – guided by coaching "genius" Ross Lyon – in Saturday's decider.
The audience at the traditional function included AFL CEO Andrew Demetriou, AFL Commission chairman Mike Fitzpatrick, and commissioners including Sam Mostyn and Linda Dessau.
The Governor of Victoria, His Excellency Alex Chernov AC QC, also attended.
Presidents Andrew Newbold and Steve Harris represented competing clubs Hawthorn and Fremantle, while Eddie McGuire, Richard Colless and Brendon Gale were among others at the lunch.
Former Richmond ruckman and current Geelong football manager Neil Balme, along with five-time Fitzroy best and fairest winner Garry Wilson, were invited as newly inducted Carbine Legends.
The game's newest dual Brownlow medallist, Gary Ablett, fresh from a few hours' sleep and a morning media call at AFL House, was presented on stage.
Ablett was sans his second medal and a little hoarse from a late night of celebrating at a Gold Coast-organised function when he stood on the Crown stage for the second time in less than 24 hours.
He relived Monday night's experience as highlights from the count played on screens around the room including the final round of votes when it was revealed he had beaten former teammate Joel Selwood and Collingwood midfielder Dane Swan to the honour.
Then, he disclosed what the rest of his first day as a dual Brownlow medallist involved - he was taking his girlfriend of nine months, Jordan, to the movies.
Earlier, Channel Seven sports presenter Sandy Roberts interviewed Glenn James, who in 1977 became the first Aboriginal to umpire at the highest level after serving in the Australian Army in Vietnam.
James spoke of his experience of growing up as one of 14 children; how a second broken jaw ended his playing career and instigated his transition into umpiring; and how he coped with constant racial vilification.
Keeping with the umpire theme, the three men who will preside over Saturday's game – Brett Rosebury, Simon Meredith and Mathew Nicholls – were acknowledged and presented on stage.
Meredith will take the first bounce, which he no doubt hopes will turn out better than James', which went wayward in his 1977 debut at VFL Park.
Demetriou and McGuire had an on-stage chat, where the former spoke of how the quality of finals already produced this September could help restore faith on the game after a tumultuous season.
As per tradition at the annual event, Demetriou revealed the Hawks will use the No.1 change rooms, interchange bench and coaches' box on Saturday at the MCG.
In turn, Fremantle will use No.2 – but will run out onto the field first, at 2.14pm AEST, with the Hawks to follow three minutes later.
The Hawks will wear the gold and brown strip with brown shorts, and the Dockers – having chosen their colours themselves – will pair their white away shorts with their white guernsey instead of their popular purple jumper.
McGuire – a strong advocate for traditional strips – was disappointed the Dockers would not have the chance to win their first premiership in the purple they've made well known.
But Demetriou said it wasn't an AFL directive and the Dockers could have worn purple with their light shorts if they wanted to.
With a Fairfax report on Tuesday stating Demetriou has ambition to join the board of Crown Casino, following an approach earlier in the year to run the Association of Tennis Professionals (the ATP), McGuire asked the League's CEO if he'd be in his current position next year.
Demetriou said he would be available as long as the Commission wanted him.
The duelling presidents also provided some comic relief. Newbold sent a ripple of laughter through the room when he suggested the Hawks would enter the Grand Final as underdogs, before Harris elicited some laughs as he painted a picture of Freo fans blazing their way across the country by road to attend the game.
Finally, Balme and Wilson were inducted as Carbine Legends, which puts them in company such as Leigh Matthews, Kevin Bartlett, Ron Barassi, Neil Kerley, Graham "Polly" Farmer and Charlie Sutton.
Balme, described by the commentary that accompanied his highlights reel as a player "you'd need a Great Wall of China to stop", remembered rucking against Farmer as a young player.
He said it was one of the greatest experiences of his life but at 12 stone or 76kg, Balme conceded he couldn't get near the great Cat.
Still, he was heavier than the lightly-framed Wilson, who admitted he started his career in 1971 at 64kg while his "heaviest" was 70kg.
Both were presented with framed caricatures of themselves – Wilson's complete with the helmet he wore for the final four years of his 14-year career following a number of concussions.
Twitter: @AFL_JenPhelan
