Saturday is 55 years in the making.
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In case you have been hiding under a rock, the Western Bulldogs are set to take centre stage at the Melbourne Cricket Ground on the first Saturday in October when they take on Sydney in the AFL grand final.
As a passionate young Bulldogs fan, I have only been alive for half the wait that others have had.
But the occasion means just as much to me.
I have only missed two Victorian games in the 2016 season, which has been such a rollercoaster of emotions.
The final quarter of the round three game was a small sample of the season overall.
It was against Hawthorn and we were leading the three-time premiership team with three minutes to go.
The fans in the stands dared to dream.
That was until the ball went the length of the ground to Hawthorn forward James Sicily and Bulldogs captain Bob Murphy.
Silence followed, with soft murmurings breaking through.
Murphy was clutching his knee.
From round three, each week the team endured injuries that many thought would prove its downfall.
But the battlers from the west kept fighting and scragging and found themselves in the finals.
Needless to say, I have been getting into the spirit of the finals, with a scarf across my back car window.
Riding the highs and lows of the side this year is what football is all about.
Never in my wildest dreams did I imagine the Bulldogs would make the grand final.
Senior coach Luke Beveridge has a knack of finding himself at the pinnacle of the season though.
He took a C Grade amateur team to an A Grade premiership in three consecutive years.
He has been involved in AFL premierships at both Collingwood and Hawthorn.
And now he has taken a team who was wildly tipped to ‘win’ the wooden spoon in 2015 to a grand final the following year.
There is something special about the person affectionately known as Bevo.
Whatever the result is on Saturday, this team will provide me and the thousands of other Western Bulldogs fans with plenty of joy in the future.
May the red, white and blue rollercoaster continue for many more years. Up the ‘Scray!
Adam Hill