For Saturday was a quintessentially Footscray moment – as has been much of the last week and for sure as will be many weeks to come.

Not since the Sydney Swans prevailed in 2005, after their own decade-longer premiership drought of 72 years, has a victory on grand final day meant quite so much to so many.

Half an hour after the final siren sounded, the MCG remained essentially full. Few of the just-under 100,000 who had passed through the gates had departed.

Amongst the Western Bulldogs faithful there would only have been a fraction present who had witnessed the club’s only premiership – 62 years back in 1954. Only slightly more would have flown the flag since the last grand final appearance seven years after that.

Footscray is one of Melbourne oldest suburbs – working class and cosmopolitan, where loyalty from the grassroots has been critical to a team being able to take the field on Saturday in its beloved red, white and blue.

It was the passion of the fans who avoided an unfavourable merger with Fitzroy in 1989 – and who got behind new coach Luke Beveridge when a then-player expression of no confidence in his predecessor led not only to the coach’s departure but a swag of players as well.

This has been a special story – not the least after the team made a vibrant start to the 2016 when a devastatingly bad run with major injuries led most to believe nothing at all could come of the rest of the year for a club that had shown it was prepared to change the way the modern game is played.

That very attitude and a similar approach from their worthy rivals made the 2016 AFL grand final one of the best in years.

Yes, the first quarter was nothing special – with lots of nerves and consequent errors but it was tough and unyielding.

The next two terms were almost gladiatorial with periods when one side prevailed and then the other. The game style allowed a stack of individual displays of the game’s most special skills. It was thus fitting that Sydney led by only two points at half time and the Doggies by just a few more at the last break.

The most telling phase of the game was surely from 15 minutes into the final term, when the Bulldogs players kept it in their own forward 50 for what seemed like an eternity without managing a score before the fans rose in voice and one of their favourites, Liam Picken, broke the impasse with a six-pointer.

When the siren sounded just under 13 minutes later, it was a victory for way more folk than the 22 on the ground. It was one for persistence and loyalty and perhaps most of all for daring to be both brave and different.