April 4th, 1981 won't be remembered particularly fondly by most Bulldogs fans. On that Saturday afternoon a young Footscray team was trounced by a powerhouse Collingwood side (which would go on to play in its third consecutive ground final in that year) to the tune of 94 points at Victoria Park, rarely a happy hunting ground for the Dogs.

But that day did see four young Bulldogs don the red, white and blue for the first time, with Alister Ford, Mark Komp, Warren Stanlake and Brian Cordy all making their VFL debuts. 

Ford and Komp would go on to have modest league careers, while for Stanlake his first VFL game would prove to be his last. (The Stanlake name returned to sporting prominence recently when Warren's 202-centimetre tall son Billy made his one-day international cricket debut for Australia against Pakistan.)

Although the fourth debutant that afternoon - Brian Cordy - only had three possessions in his first match, he would go on to have an impact at the Bulldogs that continues to this day. The brother of Neil, who played 139 games for Footscray before later joining the Sydney Swans, Brian Cordy carved out a fine career of his own at the Bulldogs, playing 124 games over eight seasons between 1981 and 1988. 

Cordy was a hard-as-nails competitor across the half-back line throughout the '80s, and he was a key component of Footscray's defence in the 1985 season that saw the Bulldogs come within a whisker of that year's Grand Final, playing all 25 games.

Cordy was a familiar sight in the number 49 jumper at Whitten Oval, a number no other V/AFL player has worn anywhere near as often as he did. His 124-game total is 86 clear of the next highest number of games played wearing the number 49.

While Cordy's final game for the Bulldogs was nearly three decades ago now, the Cordy name has lived on at Victoria University Whitten Oval through sons Ayce and Zaine. Ayce played 27 matches for the Dogs between 2011 and 2015, while Zaine - now in his third season at the Kennel - is, of course, already a premiership player, who will no doubt be looking to make a long-term mark at the Western Bulldogs, just as his father did 30 years ago.