It was less than two hours after the club’s inaugural flag in 1997 and as players gathered together in the dark, rain started to fall and tarps were being used to cover the surface.

The architect was coach Malcolm Blight who ordered his troops into the middle of the ground before leaving football’s colosseum to begin days of celebrations.

The moment was captured in a photo which has remained in the club’s archives at its West Lakes headquarters but made public this week as the Crows celebrate the 20th anniversary of their amazing triumph.

Seconds before the photo was taken as they stood around the centre circle reflecting on what had just happened, Blight challenged them to come back and do it again.

“After everything settled down we had to get into our suits and get to a function across the road, but before we did that Malcolm got everyone together and we went out onto the ground with the cup,” premiership captain Mark Bickley said.

“We were right in the middle of the ground and it was quite surreal because it was pitch black dark and we’d only been out there an hour-and-a-half before and it was crazy and full of people and noise.

“Malcolm planted the seed then and there by saying ‘let’s make a pact as a group of players - it’s been fabulous to win but what would it be like to get back here and do it again next year?’

“So within two hours of finishing and winning a grand final he was already thinking about how we were going to get back there and do it again.

“We were enjoying the moment but he was thinking about making it two in a row.”

John Reid was football manager at the Crows and largely responsible for luring Blight to West Lakes after he’d coached Geelong for six years.

“It had just started to rain, the lights were down but it left a really nice atmosphere,” Reid recalls of the moment in the middle of the MCG.

“It was one of those really special moments sitting in the middle of the oval, you’ve won a grand final and it all started to sink in.

“This was the moment of ‘hell, we did it’ and then in the next breath ‘let’s see if we can get back and do it again’.”

Nigel Smart said Reid and Blight were both responsible for creating the moment.

“I think they were good mates and there was a moment of just taking that opportunity to walk back on the ground,” Smart said.

“The stadium was empty, some dim lighting and few words were spoken at the time.

“It was typical Malcolm Blight and the team looking ahead, we also wanted to celebrate the moment, there was an ambience in this coliseum.

“Malcolm took the opportunity - as he always did - to get the boys to start to think forward that this is the MCG and you’ve done an amazing thing, it would be good to do it again.”

As the man himself knew all too well, Blight wanted the players to appreciate the moment because you don’t know if or when you’ll be back.

“Having been lucky to be through it at North Melbourne where I played in a winning one (1975), played in a losing one (1976), then in a winning one again (1977), the comparison was just unbelievably different,” he said.

“After we’d won in 1997 the first thing I thought of was ‘how good do you feel right now, what if we could do this again and come back?”

“I don’t know what made me think of it, it was really spontaneous, and when I said ‘how good does everyone feel?’ and you could see them all smiling and nodding their heads, it was one of those wonderful moments that they’ll remember for the rest of their lives.”

But neither Blight or Reid are in the photo which features a baby-faced Andrew McLeod, balding Smart, and a youthful looking Darren Jarman in his suit and tie.

“When the photo was taken I said to them ‘you go, it’s your time’ and all of us (coaches and officials) we all stood back and let the players have that moment,” Blight said.

IT BROUGHT GROWN MEN TO TEARS

According to Peter Caven, the challenge the players gave each other in that moment was a driving force throughout 1998.

“That was the real backbone and spirit of our team in 1998 - to make sure others like Roo and Vards and Mods and Lipi could experience it,” he said.

“We became an amazingly tight group. You can feel it but you can’t fabricate it, a lot of us were having kids at the same time so there was a real family feel about the place.

“And why wouldn’t you want to go back and try to win it again?”

Caven won the 1997 flag in his second year at Adelaide and before that he was at Sydney which played in the 1996 grand final against North Melbourne.

“Before that day I sent them (Sydney) a fax which said ‘good luck on Saturday, hope you can win it without me’,” Caven said.

“Then I went into the rooms afterwards and saw grown men crying and that’s when it dawned on me how hard it is to win a grand final, but also that’s what you play for - to play in and win grand finals.”

Mark Ricciuto missed the 1997 grand final due to groin surgery but watched from the stands with mixed emotions.

“I got wheelchaired out of hospital on the prelim final day when they came from 30 points down (against the Bulldogs), and didn’t know if I’d be able to get across to Melbourne and move around,” Ricciuto said.

“But I sat in the crowd and all I can remember is being excited one minute and crying the next knowing you’ve missed out.

“I was more sad than happy to be honest. When you miss out you don’t feel part of it - which is ridiculous, I still think players who don’t play on grand final day still should be rewarded - but it’s hard.

“I was absolutely shattered, I thought I’d lost my dream to play in a premiership but I was thinking well I can either cry about it or do my rehab and train hard and come back better than ever.”

THE PREMIERSHIP DEFENCE BEGINS

Adelaide opened its premiership defence against Carlton and lost by 10 points which was the start of a rocky patch early in the season.

They slipped to 1-3 after losing the Round 4 Showdown to Port Adelaide and then 3-5 after losing to Richmond by 13 points at Football Park in Round 8.

But they consolidated with four wins in a row including narrow victories over Essendon (2 points) and Collingwood (9 points) which kept them alive but in Round 16 they lost to Carlton - which finished the year in 11th spot - for the second time.

“I watched the replay on ‘Footy Flashbacks’ about a year ago,” Bickley said.

“We lost to Carlton and Bruce McAvaney was commentating and said ‘there’s a lot of discussion about Adelaide’s premiership defence and we can officially say that’s finished now’ after losing to Carlton at home.

“We were 9-8 and struggling to get in the eight so most people thought the premiership was beyond us but as we know, you can get on a roll, we got our best players back and played some really good footy.”

By Round 22 the Crows had to play West Coast in Perth to secure their spot in the finals and although results fell their way they still won by 25 points and finished fifth with a 13-9 record.

“We thought we had to win just to get in the finals but there was the result of one game earlier in the round and everyone came out of their hotel rooms doing cartwheels and running around because we were already in,” Ricciuto said.

“Then we went out and played quite well anyway and finished fifth.”

FIVE-WEEK ROAD TRIP TO GLORY

That was the start of an amazing five-week road trip that included games at Subiaco, the SCG and the MCG which is where the Crows played Melbourne in the qualifying final.

It did not go well. Jeff Farmer and David Neitz both kicked six goals, Melbourne won by 48 points and Blight responded by dropping cult hero Tony Modra and “caning” the rest of the players at training.

“To be absolutely smashed was just a real wake-up call, fortunately the finals eight system the two lowest ranked teams lost which meant we stayed in,” Bickley said.

“It was a tumultuous week, Tony Modra was dropped and then our training was brutal. Malcolm was so angry that we weren’t competitive, we did competitive training every night.

“That week was the hardest training week we’d had all year and that was leading into a game in Sydney.”

Ricciuto recalls training as being brutal.

“Blighty caned us every night, I thought ‘we’re stuffed - we can’t train like this and play on the weekend’, we did full ground running, competitive work, it was unbelievable,” he said.

“Whether that was the mindset he wanted to get into us or Neil Craig’s influence, we thought we’d hit a brick wall but we didn’t.”

Blight doesn’t recall it being that dramatic but says a little bit extra could have a major result.

“It’s amazing that late in the season if you do six or seven minutes extra of a bit of competitive training one-on-one, everyone thinks it’s enormous,” Blight said.

“It’s a perception. I’ve kept the training notes and training only went for another six or 10 minutes but the intensity just lifted for that 10 minutes. You’re not going to get them much fitter then but mentally - it wasn’t so much the running it was more that one-on-one contact to sharpen up.

“So it went for a fraction longer but when you’re out there doing it, it feels longer, I get that.’’

The qualifying final loss to Melbourne would be the last game Modra ever played for Adelaide and he joined Fremantle the following season. He had six disposals and kicked 1.2 against the Demons.

“The thing I’ve always said is after the season if I could have got hold of him a bit quicker before he made up his mind, that was my fault,” Blight said.

“I was in charge of that, I should have sat down with him and had a chat. He still might have done what he did anyhow, but I didn’t find the moment or the time, I was the senior member and I should have done that.”

The Crows, however, had to regroup and went to Sydney to play the Swans in the semi-final with a game plan, but it was thrown out the window minutes before the match when the rain came.

The new plan was for Darren Jarman and Mark Ricciuto to take the kick-ins, ruckman Shaun Rehn was to stand at the top of the square and knock the ball on, while Peter Vardy was moved from half-forward to the wing to provide run.

“And don’t handball,” was Blight’s instructions.

“Unless you’re caught with the ball don’t handball and if you do you’ll be coming off and if we get to the grand final you won’t be playing.

“Ben Hart, one of my favourite players, did handball early in the game and I ripped him off and said ‘Ben, I’ll give you one more chance’ because I could go off a bit.”

The heavy rain meant muddy conditions and smoke from fireworks was still in the air when the players ran out onto the SCG.

“You come out onto the oval in a little tunnel, like coming out of a cave, there was rain and mud and smoke and I turned around to the boys and said ‘it’s like we’re going to war’,” Ricciuto said.

“Everyone looked at me as if to say ‘far out, calm down’. But for blokes like me and Vards, at that point we were hellbent on it.”

The Crows executed Blight’s game plan almost to perfection. They resisted the handball at all times and Vardy was the hero with six goals in the 27-point win.

REMATCH WITH THE BULLDOGS

That result secured a preliminary final rematch with the Western Bulldogs who famously coughed up a five-goal halftime lead in the corresponding game in 1997 to lose by two points.

This time wasn’t as close. Adelaide jumped the Dogs with 5.6 to 2.3 in the first quarter and did not let up. Matthew Robran kicked six goals and McLeod kicked seven in the 68-point win to send the Crows into their second grand final.

“The week before although we’d played Sydney in heavy conditions I didn’t get a massive amount of the footy but still felt I played my role,” Robran said.

“That was to stand at centre-half-forward, compete, bring the ball to ground and get the little blokes like McLeod and James and Vardy involved.

“Then in the preliminary final it was just one of those games where everything fell into place.

“I started on Rohan Smith so wanted the footy in the air and to snatch a couple early it was nice. When you feel good about yourself you tend to play well.

“And I was lucky enough to get on the end of some beautiful passes, Simon Goodwin was always wonderful coming off halfback, Tyson Edwards, McLeod, and D. Jarman were great but I got an absolute ripper from Mark Bickley in the last quarter and I can still remember that.

“The previous year I was dragged at halftime of the preliminary final and had a shocker so to play a significant role in the same game against the same opponent a year later was really nice.”

North Melbourne went into the grand final as red-hot favourites on the end of an 11-game winning streak but the way the Crows had caught fire in their past two games meant they were full of confidence.

“We couldn’t have been more cherry ripe, the Sydney game was such a stirring win and we took all that momentum into the Bulldogs and we couldn’t have played better,” captain Mark Bickley said.

Robran agreed.

“Although we’d been on the road for five weeks we were running games out really well,” he said.

“It’s a credit to Neil Craig and his fitness team that we were able to run over the top of a lot of teams and that’s exactly what happened.”

TOMORROW: PART II - One magical day in ‘98.