Dale Morris was cramping, badly, in not one calf but both of them. His back was sore, like it has been all the way through the finals.
Lance Franklin was coming though, crashing through the centre square at pace. He is a hard person to tackle, one of the hardest. But there was half a quarter left to play in the grand finals and the Bulldogs had not yet done quite enough to make Morris feel sure they would win. So he lunged at Buddy. And held on. "I wasn't letting him go," he said. "There's no way known."
Tom Boyd watched this happen, standing just a few metres away. He knew how it was going to end; no one gets out of a Morris tackle easily, if at all. He saw the ball jump loose, and tumble out towards him. He heard the umpire call holding the ball, then advantage. He looked up, and noticed that the goal square was open. He kicked from just inside the centre square, watching the ball bounce once – but bounce up – on the line.
It was Boyd's third goal. It was the Bulldogs' 12th. It was the one that meant they were going to win the premiership for the first time since 1954. Not that Boyd was allowed to think that for too long. Liam Picken wouldn't let him. "He ran over to me and said, 'Keep your head in the game,"' Boyd said. "I had to take a breath. There were still a few minutes to go."
Morris was more confident. Or, perhaps, hopeful. He was sitting on his backside as the ball bounced up into Boyd's hands, and was extremely happy to be there. He has been asked for the past week about how his sore foot was falling.
But as it turned out he played through the finals with another problem altogether: a cracked vertebrae in his back.
"I thought Buddy was going to take off on me. I was cramping in both my calves, but I didn't want to let him go. To turn around and see Boydy slot the goal, it was an amazing feeling," he said.
"I gave it everything I had. I'm glad it popped out, and I'm glad Tom was there to get it, because I was completely spent. He really stood up for the club today. I'm stoked for him. I'm stoked for everyone. For every player, and for every one."
That they were able to team up said a lot about where this team has come from, and where it has taken itself this year though. In his very first game for the Bulldogs, 11 years ago, Morris played in the midfield, kept Andrew McLeod to nine possessions and was clapped off the ground by the rest of his teammates. It was a game he had been waiting a long, long time to play: Morris was 22 when the Dogs gave him a chance; even then he had to make his way off the rookie list
Boyd has made his start under very different circumstances. His every move has been watched – intently – since he became a Bulldog less than two years ago. He knew it was going to happen: he was the No.1 draft pick; he was leaving his team after less than one year; he was being paid a lot of money to do so.
In the preliminary final he spent just 10 minutes in the forward line before heading into the ruck when Jordan Roughead was injured. For the rest of the game, it was him against Shane Mumford and Rory Lobb. Had he needed to do that again, Boyd would have tried his best. Instead he was able to go back to what he had been doing.
He kicked three goals, and a couple of points. He took eight marks, six of them contested. He had 14 hitouts, having known since last Saturday night that Roughead would most likely be back. He needs to have a shoulder reconstruction in the next few weeks. Since the last round of the home and away series he has been playing on a dodgy ankle. But he threw himself around, happy like always to play wherever his team needs him to play .
"It was a different proposition last week obviously, with Roughy going down so early. But it was nice to be able to play a bit of forward this week, and get a bit of time on the bench," Boyd said. "We're not the biggest guys out there, but our ability to cover ground and take marks and be involved is important for us. It felt good out there today."
That Boyd's progress has been followed so closely has not necessarily worried him; he has always been clear on what his coach wants him to do. The ironic tweets were coming before the end of the third quarter on Saturday – that this kid should ask for a pay rise. Of the two million-dollar recruits on the ground, he played the more influential football. But that's not something he will let get to him, either.
When Boyd got to the Bulldogs he soon figured out how much the club's older players had seen, and what they had been through. Morris, he knows as this: "Extremely consistent and borderline brilliant week to week, with his ability to win his own ball. In my opinion, he's the most underrated player in the competition."
He felt very quickly like a part of his new club, and to him that has always felt more important than the way he got there and what people thought of it. "There's obviously a lot of support out there, and I do get my fair share of negative comment. I suppose I get a feel for the fact it's out there, but I don't read it, I don't pay attention. I think it bothers Mum and Dad more than it does me, because Luke Beveridge has been extremely supportive of me. He has great belief in all of us and he's been wonderful," he said.
"People will always try and find negatives, but I hope that people will see what we've done here – what we've been able to achieve is truly something remarkable with where we've come from and with the adversity we've faced this year."
Was it his best game ever? Did it even really matter if it was? "From a stats points of view maybe not. I don't exactly know," Boyd said. "But we're all here to play grand finals. I was glad I played my part today."
