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JOHN Hoiles knows what it's like to be a grand final player with the Western Bulldogs.
The Bendigo man is one of only 40 Bulldogs' players in the club's 139 year history to have played in the big one.
On Saturday, Hoiles, who played centre half back in the then Footscray's 1961 losing grand final team, will finally be joined by 22 new breed Bulldogs.
The 78-year-old could not be prouder. Like all Bulldogs fans he agree it's been a long time coming.
"It's a long time alright, 55 years (since the last grand final)," Hoiles said.
"It's good for football if the Doggies get up."
Hoiles arrived at Footscray, renamed Western Bulldogs in late 1996, in 1957, three years after the side won its first and only AFL premiership.
He went on to play 117 games across eight seasons, including 101 straight, before signing with Ovens and Murray Football league side Corowa, as captain-coach.
Following his stint as coach, Hoiles played in Corowa's 1968 premiership, their first since 1932.
He was initially recruited to the Bulldogs from Sunbury.
Hoiles said he had some fond and not-so fond memories of the club's 1961 grand final appearance against Hawthorn.
He remembers it being particularly warm for September and lining up on Hawthorn centre half forward Gary Young, who went goalless during the match.
A crowd of 107,935 turned out at the MCG to see the Bulldogs jump the Hawks to lead by 10 points at quarter time and eight points at half time.
But a six goal to one third quarter by the Hawks proved telling as they went on to record their first AFL premiership by 43 points.
The two teams' fortunes could not be anymore contrasting since that September day in '61.
Hawthorn has gone on to collect another 12 premierships from 18 grand finals in total, while the Bulldogs until this season have not played in a grand final since and have had to make do with a handful of preliminary final appearances.
Hoiles speaks with both fondness and reverence about his time spent at the Western Oval with the most famous Bulldog of them all, 1954 premiership centre half back Ted Whitten.
"Ted was a good player, a good coach - he would do anything for you," he said.
"He would back you up anytime, if you got into trouble on the ground he'd be right there helping you.
"Ted was a good bloke."
That the Bulldogs lost the 1961 grand final was no fault of Hoiles, who wore number 23 in the game, and Whitten with both among the best players.
Whitten, named captain of the Bulldogs’ Team of the Century, finished the match with three goals.
Hoiles has continued to stick with the Bulldogs through thick and thin and believed they would revel in their underdog status against Sydney Swans.
While the game has changed markedly since the days Hoiles patrolled suburban venues such as the Western Oval, Windy Hill and South Melbourne's Lakeside Oval, he believes the key to grand final success remains the same.
"On the MCG you have to have a winning centreline - if you haven't it's pretty hard to win it," he said.
Hoiles, who will watch the game from home on Saturday, was unrelenting in his praise for second-year coach Luke Beveridge in guiding to the Bulldogs into the grand final from seventh position.
"It makes a difference if you get a good coach," he said.
"The players are all behind him and having a go.
"If they do the right thing and back him, they'll have no worries."
"Sydney will be hard, but I still think the Bulldogs will win by about eight points."
Hoiles son John played seven senior games fo Geelong in 1985-86.