THESEDAYS he’s imparting his knowledge on the likes of Pittonet and De Koning. Not so long ago he was implementing the noble craft as Carlton’s resident No.1 ruckman.

It’s a little over 12 months now since Matthew Kreuzer contested his final centre bounce for his football club. By then, the big Blue with an even bigger heart had made his mark, through 189 bone-jarring games over 13 hard winters.

Amid the brutality of it all, there were the memorable game-day moments – two of them at the expense of this week’s opponent, the Port Adelaide Football Club.

Rewind to Round 11, 2008, Carlton v Port at AAMI Stadium, when the visitors reversed a 30-point three-quarter-time deficit to record a meritorious 12-point win – the first win over the hosts at that venue in seven years.

Marc Murphy earned three Brownlow votes for his efforts, with Chris Judd collecting two. Kreuzer landed the solitary vote, but the No.1 draftee - with three of Carlton’s seven goals in an incredible final-quarter fightback – justifiably earned a Rising Star nomination.

Fast forward eight years to 2016, specifically to Carlton’s Round 8 match with Port at the Docklands, and the northern suburbs’ big No.8 again delivered – this time with a match-winning six-pointer that all but raised the roof.

In what was Kade Simpson’s 250^th senior appearance and game No. 150 for Michael Jamison, it was Kreuzer who famously became the hero with the last minute-goal that sealed the famous two-point victory.

Dennis Armfield, Carlton’s 145-game heart-and-soul on-baller, played his part in both the 2008 and ’16 contests with Port.

Reflecting on those matches this week, Armfield recalled both as “must-win” Carlton matches for vastly different reasons.

“We were sitting in 10^th going into that game in Adelaide, so there was a bit riding on it,” Armfield recalled.

“For a while it was looking like it wasn’t going to happen, but then things just began to come off – and while my memory isn’t generally great with games I remember ‘Simmo’ kicking that late goal to put us in front and the celebrations afterwards.

“We were playing in a hostile environment. That place was a fortress with the Port fans and the ‘Never Tear Us Apart’ thing, so to win that game when backs were to the wall was very satisfying.”

In recalling the 2016 encounter at the Docklands, Armfield said that the Simpson-Jamison milestones were very much factored in to the preparations.

“‘Simmo’ and ‘Jamo’ were two great stalwarts of the footy club who continue to do a lot for Carlton, and everyone who played in that game wanted to represent those guys the way they represented us,” Armfield said.

“After big ‘Franky’ (Kreuzer) kicked the goal to put us in the lead and the siren went we all charged over to ‘Simmo’ and hit him harder than the opposition players – and poor old ‘Simmo’ was 60ks dripping wet.

“Unfortunately I was never part of a win in any of my milestone matches. When I made my debut we were flogged by Geelong; in my 50^th game Rob Warnock missed the goal that would have got us over the line, again against the Cats; in my 100^th game we were flogged by the Bulldogs and in my final game we were belted by the Swans and ‘Buddy’ Franklin booted ten.”

“But that’s footy.”