At about 1.30 on Saturday afternoon, from his vantage point high up in the Northern Stand, Robert Walls will look down on the hallowed turf as Carlton’s No.42 Zach Tuohy chests the banner for game No.50 against Richmond.

In doing so, Walls will ever so fleetingly cast his mind back some 44 years, to the Tigers and Grand Final day 1969, when he too ran onto “The G” for his 50^th game in the No.42 – at 19 years and 68 days the youngest-ever Carlton footballer to 50.

“Wallsy”, who’ll be wearing the “cans” in his capacity as special comments man for Radio SEN, was taken aback by the stat. But as an unabashed Tuohy fan, he’s truly thrilled that history, at last, is about to repeat.

“Zach’s going along very well. Absolutely,” Walls said earlier today. “He seems happy that he’s signed a new contract and he’s going to be a new Dad, so it’s all happening . . . and I enjoy watching him play.

“I’ll be very, very proud to share space on the No.42 locker with him because it’s been such a long time. In fact, I don’t know if anyone’s played anywhere near that number of games in that jumper since I left.”

For the record, only four other Carlton footballers - Jim Carroll (one game, 1961), Stan Harrison (one game, 1965), Trent Hoppner (one game, 1998) and Callan Beasy (13 games, 2002-04) have donned the No.42.

And Walls, whose on-field career with Carlton spanned 12 seasons and 218 matches including the victorious Grand Finals of 1968, ’70 and ’72, only met Tuohy for the first time at the recent Spirit of Carlton Captains Luncheon at The Grand Hyatt.

As was the case with Tuohy, Walls inherited the number “because it was just thrown my way”.

“I started in 1966 with the Under 19s, played five games and was then given the No.42 when they elevated me to the reserves. I played out the rest of the year in the ‘rezzies’, about 12 games, and then in ’67 I got seven senior games.

“Anyway, going into’68 I remember being asked if I wanted to take a lower number, and I said ‘no, I’m happy to stick with this’. Was that to keep my distance from ‘Serge’ (Sergio Silvagni at locker No.1) and ‘Nick’ (John Nicholls at locker No.2)? Absolutely. I didn’t want to be on Hollywood Boulevard.”

Robert Walls and Zach Tuohy at last week's Spirit of Carlton function. (Photo: Carlton Football Club)

Walls, who later coached Carlton to the 1987 Grand Final triumph and for two seasons through ’96 plied the coaching craft across town at Punt Road, was impeccably placed to articulate his thoughts in respect of the bitter rivalry which existed between the two clubs.

What triggered the rivalry?

“Oh well, Carlton and Richmond were the two best teams at the time,” came the reply.

“There were half a dozen players in the Richmond team – (Kevin) Bartlett, (Kevin) Sheedy, (Francis) Bourke, (Dick) Clay, (Bill) Barrot and (Royce) Hart - then you think of Carlton and (Alex) Jesaulenko, (Bruce) Doull, Nicholls and so on. They were all pretty good players playing for the two best teams.

“You also had two very competitive coaches in (Tom) Hafey and (Ron) Barassi, and later Nick. The bottom line was that in ’69 they beat us, we beat them in ’72 and they beat us in ’73, and for a period of time it was either one or the other or both of us in Grand Finals.”

Walls said that the Richmond-Carlton contests of the day were also regarded as “Struggletown” versus "Silvertail”, based on a myth that was probably perpetuated by the yellow and blacks.

“They thought of themselves as the battlers and us as the academics. That was of course bulls%*t, but it was nice to use,” Walls said.

“What is true is that both clubs are very proud of their heritage, they go back a long way there’s no doubt about that, and at their best their supporters get behind them . . . particularly when they’re up and about.”

As for his own place in Punt Road lore, “Wallsy” knows he’ll be forever remembered as “the Carlton bloke”.

As he said: “At Richmond I would have needed to be there for 10 years to be accepted and I was there for 18 months”.