With less than a quarter of an hour remaining in Essendon's resounding Round 1 win over Hawthorn, fans from the rival factions stood and cheered simultaneously.
Usually at each other's throats, Dons and Hawks instead united as football's undisputed folk hero resumed normal service.
Anthony McDonald-Tipungwuti was back playing footy.
The locks were a little longer down his back, and he was just that little bit softer around the middle, still, the capacity to find space hadn't escaped him, nor the ability to hit the scoreboard.
Despite contributing little more to the blowout result, the opening Sunday of the 2023 season will belong to 'Walla' for some time to come. Yet for all the warmth of his spotlight, his return from hiatus would be shared with another name on the Bombers' call sheet.
Though the nigh-on 10-goal result raised few eyebrows, the resilient manner in which victory was secured saw Bomber fans beaming as they left the 'G, filing out with their side on top of the ladder.
13 individual goal scorers and a nine-goal run proved enough to peg back and early deficit before waving in the Bombers' biggest score since May of 2021.
But while his charges celebrated opening their campaign, sending citric sports drinks over the heads of new forwards Sam Weideman and Alwyn Davey Jr, new coach Brad Scott sat for his first post-game press conference in almost 1400 days, his firm expression mismatched to much of his message.
“It was a good day for us,” Scott told Zero Hanger, no hint of elation present.
“Our supporters have been through a lot, and they should be really excited. But don't take your eye off what we're trying to build over the long term.”
In the face of doubters, the new man at the wheel had marked a full stop. A relieving point to draw breath after what had been month upon month, if not season upon season, of discontent at Essendon.
The Scott era had opened with a win and a warning.
Nearly four months on, that warning has proved on point, and those wins have begun to mount beyond dismissal.
All flights grounded
Invariably, the most nerve-wracking stages of any flight are those when the seat belt lights are on - takeoff, landing and when navigating turbulence.
These are stages of high alert; stages where eyes are shut tight and white-knuckled fists even tighter. The collective breath is short and sharp. The cabin crew's fusses are less suggestive and more demanding.
It is only after that light is switched off that a fresh breath can be drawn, as panic gives way to positive thoughts of the final destination, or at least just a chance to stretch your legs.
For much of the last 20 seasons, the Bombers' flight - read; plight - has been marked with everything from amusing blunders to human suffering of Hindenberg proportions.
This decades-long spiral has seen members of a once-cockahoop fanbase forced to gnash teeth, with every back page beating and front page fallout causing confusion, cynicism and cold-hard realities to replace the brunt of the club's historical arrogance.
It's tough, after all, to be smug when your side hasn't featured in a grand final since 2001, or won a final of any variety since 2004.
Through all the turbulence, both on the field and off it, their infernal seat belt sign has stayed lit, often without any relief in sight.
'Red, black and damn proud', one prominent cheer squad banner reads, but as the finals drought has extended, the rising thirst has humbled most in Bomberland. It's a thirst that has seen the once-rational turn rash, venting their spleens on social media as the remainder clutch at straws to halt a shared slip into delirium.
In the face of pride, and the 16 cups in the cabinet, 18 full seasons without a finals win has created an identity crisis, leading to many trading the outer for their therapist's chaise lounge; creating bills the length of an A380 quicker than you could say AOD-9604.
Desperate for any respite, some have sought a quick fix, often without the cost in mind, whereas others have shown their will to do the work.
Scott sits firmly in the latter camp.
Just ask him.
"The reality is, and the facts are, they are very young and they're going to take time to develop. Therefore, the team's going to take a bit of time to get right," he offered last December, delivering an early Christmas gift that left some supporters sulking.
In guiding a list with an average age of 23.8 - the second youngest in the competition - and 55 games of senior experience - above only Fremantle, Adelaide and Hawthorn - Scott's reasoning is clear. Yet, with an 8-7 record, a foot on a top eight rung and an intriguing route home, maybe all parties at Tullamarine will be able to have their cake and eat it too.
A calculated journey away from infighting and instability that brings with it near-immediate results? Has there ever been an easier sell?
From an outsider's perspective, Essendon has changed markedly over the course of 2023. Not only has its talent developed, sealing gaps under Scott's watch, but the Bombers have done so with a distinctive style and dare.
Those within the locker room are now persevering where they recently wilted. Those patches of stomach-dropping turbulence are still found from time to time, only now they are navigated with courage rather than a cower.
With tangible growth now visible, the supporter base is stirring. A spot in September is Essendon's to lose; while excitement, not fear, has begun to bubble.
But when will the club's rusted-on rank-and-file be allowed to unclip at altitude and party like it's 1985 again?
When can this loyal band of followers expect to see the Dons' barren finals run - 6880 days and counting - come to its long-overdue end?
In aircraft protocol, it is the captain that makes the call to switch the seatbelt light off, allowing aisle-jamming queues for the bathroom to commence. But despite owning the airspace, at the Hangar, the call is not Scott's to make alone.
This is your captain speaking
Though only new to the Essendon family, Scott, a footy lifer, has watched the Bombers' spiral largely from within arm's reach, even taking the opportunity to twist the knife himself on occasion.
The now 47-year-old was there during the club's last grand final appearance in 2001, sticking to Essendon's golden boy, James Hird, like Tarzan's Grip before celebrating the dawn of Brisbane's age of supremacy.
Scott will have watched Essendon's last finals win in 2004 with keen interest, too, taking in the five-point thriller over Melbourne at the 'G, no doubt icing up after taking part in Brisbane's qualifying final rout of St Kilda the night beforehand.
He was even there for their good times, watching on with a grimace from Collingwood's coaching box as David Zaharakis etched his name into the annals. He would get his own back in due course, though, jumping for joy five years later, as Drew Petrie channelled a beer-bonging Will Ferrell to fire the Bombers out of September.
At Arden Street, while at the helm of a club whose fans revelled in the demise of their rival, Scott watched the endless fallout of the doping scandal unfold. Unable to help, even if he wanted to.
The latest heads to roll into, and swiftly out of, the Tullamarine board room, came and went while Scott's feet sat under a desk at league headquarters. Always around, but never at the levers. Not until he rolled down Watson Drive last September, signing on the dotted line of a four-year deal.
But even before the ink had dried, Scott had found his critics. Some lived close to home. Some even under the very same roof. In spite of their gripes, the 47-year-old strides on at his own pace. A pace that asks Essendon's misfits, blue chips, imports and youngsters to not only keep up but to punch up as well.
“We set a benchmark at the start of the year to improve all of our players individually," Scott told AFL 360 in June.
"We set clear expectations on the way we want to play; the standards that we set. But the harder bit is trying to improve each individual player.
"On that measure, you look right across our list, and from Zach Merrett down, most of our players have improved.”
In jumping from content to confused; aggrieved to piqued with ease during his return to the coaches' box, Scott appears to understand the swinging range of emotions that come with loving the Bombers.
He has caused heartache in the past, but by moving from pained to prideful; befuddled to just shy of boastful, like those he mimics in the stands, he has found the essence of modern Essendon.
He has tipped his hat at these diehard Dons. He has acknowledged the weight of their agony. And as a triple-premiership player in his pomp, he knows what is good for them, too. He has asked them to trust him. He has asked for time.
But how much longer can Scott realistically expect this tempest-tossed mass to focus solely on the long term when the present is too enticing not to drink down?
Arm the doors
A simple scan of Essendon's results this season shows that Scott's men have only beaten one team that currently sits alongside them in the top eight - Melbourne, during Gather Round in mid-April.
Nevertheless, having seen their side lead the Pies handsomely at the turn on ANZAC Day, as well as twice running Port Adelaide close, there is cause for the excitement built amongst those that pray at red and black altars.
With just these near misses in mind, some amongst this spurned horde have begun to believe that their Bombers are back, and not before too long.
Still, these same supporters have been told to hold whatever horses haven't bolted, with Scott stressing just last month that Essendon still lived outside the contending class.
“I think we're still a way off against the best teams … We've got a ways to go," Scott proclaimed in early June.
"Where that takes us in the second half of the year, no one knows. But we're not going to crystal ball. We're just going to keep working extremely hard at trying to improve our individual players and building our system.”
But with Essendon stretching Port's winning streak to within a thread of snapping, Scott's tune has been altered, ever so slightly.
“If they're (Port Adelaide) the best, or second best, team in the comp, then we're in pretty good shape,” Scott said in the aftermath, his June summation looking more and more an underestimation.
If a week is a long time in football, then a month must be closer to an eternity.
Close doesn't get the chocolates, though, and nearly there has never kicked any winners after the siren. The Bombers may be gaining altitude quicker than most pundits had first predicted, but Scott's feet are still firmly on the ground.
For the pugnacious scrapper who knows the cost to climb the premiership dais, the thrills of anticipation serve no purpose in July.
“We want to embrace the excitement of our supporters and all the rest of the possibilities the home and away season presents, but that's not the way professional athletes and coaches think. They shouldn't anyway,” Scott proffered.
“We're not in the business of hoping and wishing. We're in the business of getting to work and getting things done.”
And with a menagerie of Crows (H), Cats (A), Dogs (A), Swans (H), Eagles (H), Roos (A), Giants (A) and Pies (H) left to manage before any finals ticket can be punched, Scott and his fleet will need to work, too.
Optimists and lunatics may have marked wins in ink already, however, many number-crunchers and bookmakers still have the Bombers missing September for the second-straight year. In the eyes of sporting simulators Stats Insider, the team from Tullamarine has been given less than a coin flip's chance of retaining their place in the eight over the course of the last eight outings.
Win, lose, or draw, Essendon will get what they deserve over the course of the next two months. But as the leather-poisoned Merrett can attest to, in football, possession is still worth nine-tenths of the law.
Landing the plane
Winning a final.
It seems like such an arbitrary milestone for a club with more premierships than all but one of their rivals.
But that's exactly why the jabs hurt so much. For the old days - the jacket-waving days, the look-down-the-nose days, the glory and fame days - to return, it's a milestone that desperately requires surpassing.
Winning a final.
Only then will the former Lion eliminate the lion's share of external noise. Only then will the Bombers' many hiccups and mass hysteria be behind them. Only then will fists unclench and collective breath be drawn. Only then will that damned light be dimmed.
Scott knows this, just ask him.
Deep down, every Dons fan does, whether their pride will have them admitting so, or not.
But claiming it can't happen this year is just a waste of breath. After all, it's impossible to delay a flight that has already left the runway.
