It’s perhaps the most famous match-winning play of any Grand Final – that glorious, desperate act of genius in the shadows of the old Ponsford Stand when Wayne Harmes lunged headlong towards the bobbing Sherrin and belted a six-point gift to Ken Sheldon.

And yet, Harmes’ fabulous action in making hand contact with the ball he’d just kicked, is not, according to the man himself, the ’79 Grand Final moment of which he is most proud.

For him it’s a later play in the frenetic time-on period of the fourth quarter, which ensured that the footy remained in Carlton’s forward half for the final 85 seconds. The act not only secured Premiership Cup No.12 for the Princes Park trophy cabinet, but also saved the bacon of the future AFL Commission Chairman Mike Fitzpatrick.

It happened at the centre bounce moments after Collingwood’s Allan Edwards took possession of the loose pill and goaled on the left to get his team to within four points of a Carlton outfit whose captain-coach had just disappeared up the race with a serious ankle injury.

“It was the last centre bounce, and by that stage ‘Jezza’ was off and I’d been thrown into the middle,” Harmes told this reporter in an interview for the club’s publication Out Of The Blue.

That was NOT out of bounds...

A Wayne Harmes highlights reel. It doesn't get much better.#BoundByBlue pic.twitter.com/KndMe1PUMx

— Carlton FC (@CarltonFC) December 27, 2018

“Peter Moore had been jumping all over the top of ‘Fitzy’ (Carlton ruckman Mike Fitzpatrick), so I decided to rove to Peter Moore – and if you have a look at the replay he (Moore) rams the ball down my bloody throat.

“I knew at that stage that there wasn’t much time left, and I turned immediately to the members and hit an end-over-end kick. That sticks more in my mind than the famous incident.”

One of the great myths of the ’79 GF is that the boundary umpire called the ball ‘in’ as Harmes thumped the ball from the boundary line back into Sheldon’s path. But it was the officiating goal umpire, Bob Barker, who made the decisive call with his unimpeded view from the goals at the Ponsford Stand end – and Bob has always been in no doubt that the footy was still in play rather than in the Hilton Hotel foyer as the odd Collingwood devotee would have you believe.

“I have never ever had a doubt in my mind about that decision. Never ever,” Bob was quoted saying for Out Of The Blue. “There was no need for me to think otherwise. If I had the decision to make 100 times again, I’d do it 101.”

Wayne Harmes is congratulated after being named the inaugural Norm Smith Medallist. (Photo: AFL Media)

In the end, Carlton emerged victorious by five points – 11.16 (82) to 11.11 (77) – with the No.37 accepting the inaugural Norm Smith Medal from Marj Smith, wife of the late Norm Smith, coincidentally Harmes’ great uncle.

Sadly, Harmes will be missing from members of that feted Premiership 20 who gather for a 40-year reunion at the MCG this Saturday, as will Barry Armstrong and Fitzpatrick, who are unavailable.

Lost to the ranks is the ’79 Premiership wingman Michael Young, who sadly passed away last September, three months to the day short of his 60^th birthday.

But for Harmes, there remains in place a scripted answer to the inevitable question – “Was the ball in or out?”.

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“Whenever I’m asked by people I always ask them who they barrack for,” Harmes said.

“If they say ‘Collingwood’ I tell them it was in the Jolimont railyards, if they say ‘Carlton’ I tell them it was in and if they’re neutral I say ‘Does it really f…ing matter?’.”

Sixteen of the surviving 19 members of Carlton’s 1979 Premiership team will be in attendance at the MCG on Saturday when the club’s current senior group takes on Collingwood.

Barry Armstrong, Mike Fitzpatrick and Harmes  are all unavailable. Michael Young, the ’79 Premiership wingman, died on September 16 last year.