From Melbourne's three-goal deficit to Clarry's centre clearance snag, it all began with an appreciative sleep-in owing to the twilight decider.
“(Clayton) was all fired up for it,” Steve said.
“I spoke to him before the game and he was quite happy with the twilight game because he got to sleep in and he didn't have to get up in a rush, which he never does, mind you.
“Having the bye, a lot of the players actually appreciate it because they just come in nice and fresh.”
As the Bulldogs kicked away, however, there would have been more than a few nervous Melbourne fans twitching their feet.
They shouldn't have worried; their team blitzed the Bulldogs in a marvellous 35-minute period of football.
Their 44-point turnaround against Geelong in the final round of the home and away season had already showed Melbourne could reel in a deficit.
“They always seem to have belief that even if they are down that they can come back,” Steve said.
“It was fantastic, really. Footy is always a game of two halves and I thought we should be all right and come out in the second half and play a bit better.
“Then the Dogs kicked another three goals and I'm thinking ‘geez, we've gone from 21 points up to 19 points down’, the Bulldogs were just on fire.
“I was thinking (Melbourne) better get a goal back shortly — then all of a sudden they flicked into gear.
“I was talking to Clayton after they came back from 44 points against Geelong; they weren't too concerned at half-time when they went in.
“They just thought `we'll go back to the way we play and everything should fall in place'.”
Sure enough, the Demons did just that to power away with the eighth-highest winning margin in a grand final: 74 points.
While Christian Petracca (39 touches) and Bayley Fritsch (six goals) may have stolen the show slightly, Clayton's 33 touches and game-high 10 tackles were arguably the most telling factor in the Dee-molition, placing him third in the Norm Smith voting.
Now, he stands among the greats of the club as a Melbourne premiership player.
“Naturally you want your kids to get the best out of their football careers; getting their opportunities, hopefully getting a game and winning a few of those,” Steve said.
“To win the premiership in only his sixth season is absolutely fantastic.”
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