RELATED – Stringer’s grand journey
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RELATED – Stringer’s AFL dream comes true
FOR Bendigo’s Jake Stringer, the frenetic two-and-a-half hours that was last Saturday’s epic AFL grand final is a blur, while the enormity of his achievement in winning a premiership with the Western Bulldogs is still to hit home.
In what was just his 73rd AFL game with the Bulldogs, 22-year-old Stringer is now an AFL premiership player – an accomplishment he’s still struggling to comprehend.
“It has been an awesome few days, but it just doesn’t feel real,” Stringer said on Thursday.
“It hasn’t sunk in at all and I can’t put words into it… it’s just an amazing feeling.
“You dream of winning premierships when you’re a little kid and to be able to now live out that dream at a club that had been starved of success for 62 years; it just doesn’t get any better.
“I don’t know when it will sink in, maybe when I’m driving back up to Bendigo and get a bit of a chance to reflect back on it.
“I looked at the photo last night of us celebrating around the cup and to see all the smiles and joy on everyone’s faces is just incredible.”
In what was a grand final for the ages, the Bulldogs defeated the Sydney Swans by 22 points at the MCG, kicking the last three goals of the game to win 13.11 (89) to 10.7 (67) and capture the club’s first premiership since 1954 and only the second since joining the then-VFL in 1925.
“In a way it doesn’t even feel like we’ve played a game because it has been that big of a whirlwind,” Stringer said.
“To be honest, I can only remember bits and pieces of the game.
“I’ve seen snippets of the game here and there, but I haven’t sat down yet and watched a replay of it, which is something I’m looking forward to being able to do.”
Stringer ended the match with 12 disposals and one mark, and while his influence was nullified for much of the day, he had two pivotal moments in the final quarter that helped the Bulldogs break the shackles of the Swans.
The first was with 11:43 to go when he was fed a handball from Jackson Macrae and amidst a cluster of players got boot to ball and snapped a goal to put the Bulldogs up 67-60.
And later with 2:18 left on the clock Stringer received a handball from Caleb Daniel on the forward flank.
Stringer had a bounce, but rather than blaze away, he centred to Liam Picken in the goalsquare, resulting in the goal that moved the Bulldogs 21 points clear.
While the game is a haze – including the goal he kicked – Stringer has a clear recollection of his kick to Picken.
“Liam’s goal was pretty much the sealer and it’s probably my best memory of the game… to finally think that we’ve done it,” Stringer said.
“You could feel then that it was so close, and I remember when I handballed to Toby McLean and he got the head-high tackle with 30 seconds left and he was having a shot at goal that Liam Picken was hunched over on his knees and saying to him that we’ve done it.
“When the final siren went it was quite ironic because I was near Libba (Tom Liberatore) and Dal (Luke Dalhaus) and we’d often spoken about what it would be like at the final siren, and they were the closest to me.
“The joy after the game was just unbelievable.”
That joy was amplified the following day when the Bulldogs were presented to a crowd of more than 20,000 at the Whitten Oval.
“It was quite incredible to be at Whitten Oval on Sunday. We were on the first floor overlooking the ground and you couldn’t see the grass because there was so many people there,” said Stringer, who was drafted from the Bendigo Pioneers with pick No.5 in the 2012 National Draft.
“That’s when it hit home in what it meant to so many people. It’s been quite remarkable the amount of support we’ve had from people saying how proud they are and it was great to be able to thank them for everything they’ve given to this club.
“It’s fantastic to be a premiership player, which is something that can never be taken away.”