A guard of honour has formed to usher out the greatest bulldog of all. Ted Whitten bursts out onto the Western Oval in a sea of balloons and confetti to celebrate the greatest Doggies team of all time.
As the players recede backward in the painting so do they in time. Today's stars Scot Wynd and Chris Grant are seen in full colour, fading back through the decades to sepia tones by the time we get to Allan "banana legs" Hopkins.
A hawk circles in the sky above Dougie, a chocolate royal lies at the foot of Brian Royal, a banana peel at the foot of Hopkins and if you look closely you can see Ted's paw prints leading back up into the race!
The painting was auctioned at a gala event. It was purchased by club sponsor Coca-Cola for $48,000 and donated back to the club where it now hangs.
500 limited edition prints SOLD OUT.
There was a quirky footnote to this painting. If you look behind the feet of Herb Henderson (third from the front on the left side) you will see the tatters of a newspaper clipping saying "Herb back in side"!?
The artist accidentally used a photo of Brian Gilmore thinking it was Herb and painted him in instead. After Jack Collins picked up the mistake at the print signing session, Herb was quickly put back in his rightful position and the prints re-done.