Before Saturday Jaydon Stiles didn’t believe in a footy God, but in the wash-up of his side’s remarkable four-point win over Avenel, the Merrigum coach does now.
On a day where former AFL star Dane Swan pulled on the red, white and blue, one of the most bizarre and rare moments happened after the siren.
Merrigum’s Jordan Hutton gave away a high tackle in the dying seconds of the match, which meant his opponent had a kick to win the game following the final siren.
However, Hutton went from villain to hero in the matter of seconds as he smothered the set-shot kick to deliver his side a memorable 12.14 (86) to 12.10 (82) win in front of a packed crowd.
“We had to have had the footy God on our side, someone must’ve been watching over us,” Stiles said.
“Jordy gave away the free kick and the Avenel young fella had a kick after the siren, but kicked it into the man on the mark ... it made the day that little bit better to come away with a win.”
It was a special day for the all involved at the ‘Gum as Swan made his highly-anticipated appearance.
The ex-Collingwood great, premiership player and Brownlow medallist patrolled along half-back and gave onlookers a glimpse of what made him one of the best footballers in the AFL.
“He’s a man of few words, but he came up to me at three-quarter time and said look, ‘I’ll go play one extra down back with 10 minutes to go and play loose’ if we were still in the lead,” Stiles said.
“He did that well, he ended up having 36 disposals. People said watching him from the sidelines, you can tell he knew where the ball was going to go before anyone else did.
“I hope the boys learnt something from watching that, just his work-rate, it’s elite to be honest.
“For him to come in off a week on the Gold Coast with his family and to come in and to get 36 touches was phenomenal. He is such a good person and such a good footballer, we were really blessed to watch him.
“And the sportsman’s night was massive for the club, it was fantastic.”
The win, Merrigum’s fourth of the campaign, comes as the Bulldogs look to continue their rebuild.
Stiles said his outfit was “close to full-strength” following a few matches where it missed up to 14 players through injury.
He hoped the eighth-placed Bulldogs could build on the positive signs and push towards a finals appearance.
“We’re still optimistic about finishing off the year well and finals is still our main focus,” he said.
“To have so many players leave at the start of the year and recruit and achieve what we have already, I couldn’t be prouder of the boys to be honest.
“Hopefully we can put our best foot forward and keep this momentum going.”