By Marcus Uhe
Cody Hirst described the bond between the playing group at Wandin as a ‘brotherhood’, and the reality is not too far removed from the analogy.
The midfielder, who was crowned best-afield in the grand final triumph over Narre Warren, had the special distinction of winning a senior premiership with his brother Daniel.
They, along with the Hodgett’s (Sam and Patrick) and the Garner’s (Joel and Todd) made up of a quarter of the premiership side on Saturday.
But to simplify a brotherhood to just the legitimate bloodlines would not do the connection within the squad justice.
“To do it with us and the Byrne’s, the Hodgett’s, we’ve known each other for years, and the Garners, we all went to primary school together,” Hirst said after the game.
“To win one together means the absolute world.
“The whole club, everyone’s a real brotherhood and I love it.
“To do it with my brother as well, I’m speechless.”
Hirst was the standout among a quality band of midfielders on Saturday, covering the ground with ease and racking up possessions at will, while joining Daniel on the goalkicker’s list for the first time this season.
For Hirst, who finished second in the league best-and-fairest behind one of Saturday’s combatants in Tom Miller, the dominant performance was the culmination of an incredible year for the club, his second in red white and blue.
Things could have gone either way midway through the second quarter, when Narre Warren were landing blow-after-blow after an early Wandin onslaught.
But the Bulldogs had an intangible forged through the fire and hardship of getting to the last day of the season the hard way; belief.
“We talked about it all year and in preseason we all showed up,” he said.
“We had a few little hiccups throughout the year but we dealt with it, overcome them and it’s the best feeling in the world.
“We knew the tide was going to change, we knew they were going to come.
“Their midfield is really good, Miller, (Kurt) Mutimer, (Tom) Toner, we knew it was going to happen.
“We knew we had to stick our process and we knew that we’d be right.
“That game could have gone two ways, it was a bit of a flip of the coin.
“We had the belief. Our footy club is all about belief and we talk about it.
“To the Wandin army, to our supporters who come out, it was like having a 23rd man out there.
“They’re a great outfit, so to run over the top of them and get the job done, I’m pretty speechless, I’m so proud of them.”
