Even the barest details of the Riverina League grand final 20 years ago gets the heart racing.

Arch-enemies. Thirty-five goals. See-sawing fortunes. And a record gate - nearly $10,000 more than the year before - that has been eclipsed only once in 20 years, despite inflation.

In fact, the Reserve Bank says $30,707 in 2000 is worth about 50 grand today (while last year's gate was $22,534). But this is not about economics. It's a football story, of a day to remember.

A teenaged Nathan Irvine was driving home from Canberra to Ganmain on Friday night, September 15, 2000. Sydney held the eyes of the world for the opening ceremony of the Olympic Games.

Irvine, then 18, felt the hairs on his neck and butterflies in the belly. But his mind was on a Sunday showdown between Coolamon and GGGM.

"I even remember driving through Coolamon on the Friday night and that's when it started sinking in and started tingling," Irvine says.

Coolamon's last premiership had been back in 1983. The Lions had won in 1996 (interrupting Wagga Tigers' dominance). But this was the first grand final between the rivals in 19 seasons of the Riverina League.

Even the AFL decider l had been played the week before, before the Olympics, and all roads here seemed to lead to Narrandera Sportsground.

"Just driving in to the ground, I got there early in the second grade, and there was bloody people everywhere even at that stage. That's one thing that vividly sticks in my mind," Coolamon's star forward, Brendan McKelvie says.

"There was bus loads turning up there. Obviously everyone knew the rivalry that Coolamon and Ganmain have and there were buses with rugby league teams coming over, like Kangaroos from Group Nine, just for the day. It was enormous."

The rivalry was no myth, nor was the excitement.

Only Narrandera's success in 2012 has drawn a bigger gate ($33,044). The first crowd of the new millennium was nearly double the average ($17,671) of the 10 other grand finals between 1995 and 2005.

"I reckon it would've been the biggest crowd I played in front of in finals, by far the biggest," says GGGM's Christen McPherson.

"It was like the good old days - like when the old man was playing and photos showed the banks were full."

McPherson played in 10 senior grand finals with the Lions. He won eight. This wasn't one of them.

"It was a pretty big build-up because of the rivalry and there was a fair bit of talk around town and in the papers. It was a good one to be a part of. Just on the wrong side I suppose."

After three grand final losses since 1983, including to Tigers the previous season, Coolamon were going to have their day. The signs were there early.

"Every second guide post from Coolamon to Ganmain was painted green, I remember that," says Luke Maloney.

"And someone put a big sheet on the town clock that said 'Weed for PM'."

'Weed' was Wayne Weidemann. A former cult figure at Adelaide Crows, who played 68 AFL games, he was in his second season at Coolamon.

He'd arrived in 1999 and took the wooden spooners to runners-up. Coolamon, in fact, hadn't won a game in the first half of the season in 1998 but Maloney says it wasn't as bad as it looked.

"We had enough core good players coming through. In '98 we finished last but we weren't getting flogged and we were competing against the good sides. Then we picked up those few recruits, Matt Hard, Weidemann, Jarrod Skidmore (a key defender from Tasmania)," Maloney says.

"There was a good nucleus of guys coming through and we had a few guys like Brett Nolte, seasoned guys who'd been through the hard times but were good footballers. It all sort of come together at once."

If Coolamon could see a road out of the doldrums, Weidemann was the right man to steer them.

"He was a great leader, a massive presence," Maloney says.

"You definitely felt safe when you ran out with 'Weed' that's for sure. You couldn't ask for a better leader, especially when we had so many young blokes 20 and under."

Matt Hard, who took over from Weidemann in 2002 (and led the Hoppers to their next premiership in 2013) says there was never any doubt about the 'buy-in' of players.

"The beauty about Wayne was everyone just looked up to him," Hard says.

"So all of a sudden training numbers were massive, there were people everywhere and it just created a real excitement around the footy club. It was just a great little time."

Greg 'Squeak' McKelvie returned to Coolamon in 2000 after two years coaching Ariah Park and also found a lot to like.

"He obviously commanded a lot of respect, he was a bit of a scary bloke! But as a coach he kept everything really simple," McKelvie says.

"We didn't have many training drills but what we done, we done really well. Sometimes coaching you think you've got to mix it up all the time to keep people interested. But he just had the philosophy of keeping it simple but training really well. It was really good actually."

The inspiring coach was fearsome for opponents. McPherson says he was tough to find a match-up for and almost impossible to tackle. Irvine was in awe.

"Big, bullocking centre. He was massive. Big, barrel-chested, big arms, strong legs. A big viking," Irvine says.

"He was an intimidating character. I remember earlier in the season he had Brett Lenon, I think, on the ground choking him by throat..."

So that was the 'Weed'. An inspiration, and on board with the history of the Hoppers and Lions.

Matt Hard says all three newcomers learnt about the rivalry at the start of 1999.

"I remember my very first game for Coolamon was against Ganmain at Coolamon and all the hype then... myself, Wayne, Skiddy (Jarrod Skidmore), it was all our first game," Hard says.

"Everyone said, 'This game will be as big as you'll see' and I thought, yeah, no worries.

"But shit, that was a big game. Even winning that round one in 1999 - I remember going to the clubrooms for a beer and there was people everywhere. And I thought, gee, this is pretty significant."

While GGGM had won three premierships in the 1990s, it was almost a lost decade at Coolamon.

"The '90s were pretty lean times for us. We were getting hidings left, right and centre," 'Squeak' McKelvie says.

"So to come back and get a grand final at Coolamon was fantastic. We'd been down for a fair while so it meant a bit."

To set up their derby finale, both teams had to dispatch an all-conquering Tigers who had won six of the previous seven premierships.

"They had a bloody good side. They batted really deep," Hard remembers, of a team including Steven Priest, Darren Cook, Steven Schulz, Corey Pavitt, Mark Stone, Warick Brown, Chris Jackson and Jason Morton, to name a few.

But a Brendan McKelvie-inspired Coolamon rolled the minor premiers on their home deck at Robertson Oval in the semi-final.

"One of them days, mate. I got a few lucky ones," McKelvie says of his eight-goal haul that helped the Hoppers secure their spot in the grand final.

"'Tubba', he was a really good mark, one of the best marks you'll see," 'Squeak' says of his younger cousin.

"And I remember that game at Robertson Oval, he had a really good game and kicked eight goals. He had a good year, definitely."

Brendan, then 20, had tasted last place with Coolamon in '98 before a year at Ariah Park but was also back to play with the rest of the rising stars.

"A lot of the younger ones had come through the 18s and we'd played a fair bit of footy together," he says of a side including Maloney, Lew Roberts, Greg Rudd, Tim Hilton, Craig and Leigh Drum, Brad Mattingly, Sam Roberts, Brett Garrett.

"That was one thing. A lot of the kids had come through the junior ranks, like Lew was only 16 or 17 at the time, and there wasn't a heap of recruits either... it's always good when you go alright and you're all locals."

For their part, GGGM in 2000 included Nick Carroll, Scott and Jason Hamblin, Jamie and Scott Crozier, and Nathan McPherson. They were led by coach Luke Pumpa who could play at either end of the ground but, fatally, played at full-back in the decider on an in-form McKelvie.

If the crowd was a talking point, so was the weather.

"It was a stinkin' hot day. Really hot. I remember that. I was on the wrong side of 30 though," 'Squeak' says.

Brendan couldn't have been more nervous running out but found an unlikely way to settle his nerves.

"I remember the first one. I got paid a mark and I'd dropped it red-handed," he says. "They paid it and that sort of got me going. I was nervous as buggery though."

He didn't look it, not to his teammates at least, on his way to six goals.

"Lew Roberts and Brendan McKelvie were marking everything and were absolutely dominant up forward," Maloney says.

Coolamon produced a sublime first half to hold a six-goal lead at half-time. It could have been more but for the Lions' straight kicking (6.2) to keep them in touch.

But if the margin at the end of two-quarters was stunning, how about a 40-point turnaround in the third?

"Everything we touched early turned to gold," Matt Hard says.

"We were riding momentum, hitting the scoreboard, we were doing everything right. Come the third quarter, after we were 36 points up at half-time, I thought we're ready to blow the game apart here.

"Then Joel Collins, and he won't mind me saying this but Joel Collins retaliated to a bit of a cheeky elbow.

"He got caught and sent off for retaliating and we spent the next 15 minutes with 17 men and momentum very quickly swung in Ganmain's favour.

"All of a sudden we go in at three-quarter time a couple of points down from memory."

Pumpa was quiet in the Lions' huddle but McPherson was thinking, 'Here we go.'

Coolamon were concerned. Down by four points, the Hoppers had gone from one hand on the trophy to wondering what's coming.

"The three-quarter-time huddle, we were flat, really flat, thinking, 'What's gone on?' Greg McKelvie says.

"But in the last quarter, it turned on its head. Everything just clicked for us again. And Ganmain had spent a fair bit of energy."

The game hung in the balance for a tense 10-minute period in the last quarter. When Coolamon broke that deadlock with the next goal, they rediscovered their mojo and were soon lapping up a memorable 33-point win.

"What was it? Seven goals to one?" Hard checks.

"Yeah, we finished full of run. It was one of them quarters that seemed to go forever. But it could've kept going because it was just fun."

Weidemann had led them out of the centre all day and the winning coach was best-on-ground.

Nolte wasn't far off it.

"I remember Brett Nolte having a really good game," Maloney says.

"It was a toss of the coin between him and Weidemann getting best-on. He not only got a heap of the ball himself but did a really good job on Nick Carroll that day."

Brendan McKelvie finished with 19 goals from three finals. He later won a 2009 Hume League flag with Osborne.

'Squeak' had won an Ovens and Murray premiership with Wangaratta.

"That was good, a higher standard, but I wouldn't swap it for the Coolamon one. It kind of means a bit more when you've been there all your life," he says.

Doing it against the Lions was twice as nice.

"Definitely! They've always been cracking games... it was good to knock them off. To their credit, they've been really successful, they've won a lot of premierships. So for us to beat them it did make it a little bit sweeter."

GGGM beat Coolamon in 2009 and 2011 in their golden run of grand finals. Maloney remembers those so was pleased to get a second flag with the Hoppers at the tail end of his career in 2013.

But 2000 was one to savour.

"I think because Coolamon was down for so long, it just had a real local flavour. And the RFL was really pumping back then. Through the 90s it was really strong," he says.

"And most of us are still good mates today."

It hit hard for the Lions.

"I think there were a few tears on the ground after the game. We didn't get another crack at it til 2004," Irvine says.

But Coolamon lapped up their success for days, with the Olympic Games a vague backdrop to their celebrations. McPherson knew it had meant plenty.

"I think the best thing for them was they had to drive through Ganmain, Grongy and Matong on the way home, beeping their horns and what have you," he laughs.

McPherson went to Sydney and won two premierships, then returned to be part of all seven GGGM premierships between 2004-11 (to add to his 1996 win).

Irvine shared only in the Lions' 2004 victory, in between seasons in Canberra. The loss in 2000 will always hurt. But the occasion was something special.

"I used to work on the gate selling Records at Ganmain so you grew up watching these blokes in the 90s, the Lawtons and those guys winning premierships, and to get the chance to try and do it yourself, it was all I ever wanted to do," he says.

He warmly recalls Jed Lawton writing him an inspirational note before the 2000 grand final. By the time he won a senior flag, he had learnt a valuable personal lesson.

"It was bittersweet because I probably played one of my best games in a losing grand final and I played a really poor game in the one that we won," Irvine says.

"So you finish that and you're disappointed in yourself but you won. The other game you think, well, you've done your best and it wasn't enough, but you can live with that."

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