In a delightful throwback to the 1980s and ’90s, Carlton fans in all areas of Marvel Stadium greeted each of Adam Saad’s 18 kicks with the thumping cries of “Woof!" during last Friday night’s match with St Kilda at Marvel Stadium.

Just as supporters of yesteryear saluted Carlton’s premiership players Val Perovic and Ang Christou, today’s theatregoers followed suit with their deep-throated 'woof' sounds for Saad, whether the player chipped the pill the bare minimum 15 metres or thumped it 55 on his exhilarating line-breaking runs from the back half.

According to legend, the crowd cry first went up for Perovic as a means of mimicking the sound made when the player’s boot hit the pigskin. Curiously, the then Carlton General Manager Ian Collins told a newspaperman that Perovic, the former St Kilda player, found the whole 'woof' thing somewhat disconcerting, based on his view “that the supporters are taking the mickey out of him”.

That it seems fell on deaf ears, and in the end Perovic’s 'woof' calls were par for the course.

The “woof” was revived in the mid-1990s whenever Ang Christou let fly with that searching left-foot kick out of the back 50 – and it was Christou who last Friday successfully called on the Carlton faithful to follow suit for Saad.