When the 2016 premiership flag is unfurled at Etihad Stadium on Friday, 31 March, some iconic Bulldogs will be on hand to mark the occasion.
Today’s ICON profile: John Schultz
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The Brownlow Medal is renowned for being awarded to the fairest and best player in an AFL season and it's worth noting that the word 'fairest' is deliberately placed before 'best' in the official wording of the award.
John Schultz, who was the recipient of football's highest honour in 1960, was known by one and all, teammates and opponents alike, as a scrupulously fair player throughout his 188-game career at the Bulldogs between 1958 and 1968.
Schultz, never reported during his career, was fair first and foremost but he was also a worthy winner of the award as the best player in the league, his sublime ruck-work giving his teammates around him an armchair ride, particularly in the early 1960s when he was considered to be almost without peer among ruckmen.
Ironically, the country boy from Boort, three hours northwest of Melbourne, had an introduction to elite football that was probably less than fair, felled in the first 20 seconds on debut by an 'errant' Collingwood backhander. Schultz nevertheless recovered quickly from the incident and kicked a goal in that debut match in the opening round of the 1958 season.
Schultz established himself in the side immediately and became a driving force at Footscray over the ensuing seasons as the Bulldogs, having broken through for a flag in 1954, made another assault on a premiership in 1961.
Continuing the fine form that had seen him win the previous season's Brownlow, Schultz gained All Australian selection in 1961 as his Bulldogs made the top four and defeated St Kilda and the all-powerful Melbourne on their way to a second Grand Final.
The Bulldogs ran out of legs in that Grand Final, a strong second half seeing Hawthorn win its first premiership, but Schultz played a typically fine match and was named by The Age's chief football writer Ron Carter as one of the Bulldogs' best.
While success eluded the Bulldogs in the years after that Grand Final, John Schultz continued to give his rovers first use of the ball more often than not, sustaining a fine career that saw him pick up many more Brownlow votes until work commitments saw him draw a curtain on his playing days at the end of the 1968 season, aged just 29.
The Bulldogs have remained at the forefront of Schultz's heart and mind since his retirement and he has retained an active involvement with the club to this day, most notably through the past players association.
No one was happier and prouder than John Schultz when he was accorded the honour of handing the premiership cup to Easton Wood after the Western Bulldogs' Grand Final win over Sydney last October, his beaming smile an image that will forever remain in the minds of the Bulldogs faithful.
