Video footage of the Carlton players’ last training session before the 1995 Grand Final has been unearthed, almost 30 years to the day since the Blues landed what was then an unprecedented 16th League Premiership at senior level.

The footage was captured by lifelong Carlton supporter and Member Paul Brush, who was perched in front of the since-demolished Richard Pratt Stand (formerly Hawthorn Stand/Southern Stand) on the afternoon of Thursday, September 28 - some 48 hours before Carlton Coach David Parkin and Captain Stephen Kernahan hoisted the cup on the MCG.

Brush’s four and a half-minute video captures the light skills session involving members of the senior 21 and emergencies under blue skies at the Carlton ground, then branded Optus Oval.

Thousands of Carlton supporters frequenting the Ald. Gardiner Stand, as well as the George H. Harris Stand and Robert Heatley Stand (both of which succumbed to the wrecking ball in 2008) can be seen watching on in the video, as the likes of Kernahan, Craig Bradley and the soon-to-be Norm Smith Medallist Greg Williams complete the session on the hallowed turf. A healthy contingent of media representatives can be seen congregating by the goalsquare at the Heatley Stand end, and the long-gone Olympic Tyres Scoreboard, upon which the words “BRING IT HOME BLUES” and “SEIZE IT CARLTON” are featured alongside a Premiership Cup graphic, also appears.

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30 Years on | The Grand Final training session at Princes Park

In this footage provided by Paul Brush, have a look at the Premiership Blues open training before their triumphant 1995 Grand Final.

“I captured the footage with my Sony VHS camera, the first of its type. I still have the camera but the battery can’t be charged anymore,” Brush said recently.

“The video shows the old ground in all its glory, and what strikes me now with the crowd scenes is the absence of mobile phones.

“I’m so glad an old video means so much.”

With Brisbane rostered to complete its final training session before the Grand Final at IKON Park on Thursday, Brush said he was also reminded of just how hard Grand Finals are to win.

As he noted: “It took 98 years for Carlton to be the first club to land the 16th Premiership and no other club has overtaken 16 in the 30 years since”.