Finally getting free time from work, I have decided to return to a timeline I have been working on. This timeline will cover more than half a century of Australian football history, showing the changing faces and moods of the game throughout the decades.
We shall begin here:

The 1954 premiership was the first premiership for the perennial losers: the Footscray Bulldogs. Their domination on the field that one day in September was helped by the fact they had a magnificent line up of players like captain-coach Charlie Sutton, leading goal-kicker Jack Collins and the man they called Mr. Football, Ted Whitten. The defeat of the Victorian darling team named the Melbourne Demons, coached by the famous Norm Smith, opened the eyes of the footballing populace to the fact a new heavyweight was stepping into the spotlight. However, the road to dynasty was a hard one.
The 1955 season was dominated by the strongest teams of the decade; Essendon, Melbourne, Geelong and Collingwood. Footscray drew the short end of the straw, being defeated by all the major sides (with the exception of Melbourne), often by short margins. This left them in a lofty position going into the final round. They had to rely on one of the years favourite teams, the Essendon Bombers to lose. This was a difficult thing to promise, as their challengers, the Hawthorn Hawks, were stuck in 8th position, and were unlikely to win. After winning their game against North Melbourne, Footscray returned to the changing rooms, when Charlie Sutton turned on the radio to listen to the final moments of the Hawthorn v Essendon match. The team listened anxiously to the game, as the final siren blew; Hawthorn won, Essendon lost, and Footscray were on their way to another finals series.
The first challenger was Geelong who finished up 3rd. The game which was played in a strong wind, as an uphill struggle for the Bulldogs. However, despite being down at half time, the team found it's strength, and fought back to win by 11 points. Then next challenger was the far more notorious Collingwood. The game played at the MCG was a titanic struggle for supremacy, with no team gaining power till the final quater, in which Footscray came out on top by 7 points.
This left the premiership to be decided by new rivals and the minor premier, Melbourne, and the upcoming Footscray. The Bulldogs kicked off in the first quater and never looked back. Almost a replay of the 1954 grand final, Footscray symbolically thrashed the favourites to the tune of 29 points, an understatement compared to the 51 point margin of 1954. Thus, the Bulldogs won their second premiership, their second in a row.

A charging Ted Whitten breaks the pack in the '55 grand final
The 1956 season saw the retirement of Charlie Sutton as a captain, however, he did stay coach for the club until 1967. His successor for the captaincy was an obvious choice, Ted Whitten. Thus, the Footscray season was under way. The season of 1956 saw similar faces and similar teams. The maligned Essendon who was a major challenger for the 1955 premiership put the critics in their place by dominating the season, winning the minor premiership before the season was up. On the other end of the spectrum however, was the downfall of North Melbourne, who appeared in the finals just years earlier, now sat at the bottom of the ladder. However, nothing much else changed in terms of results, and at the end of the season, the stage was set for the finals; Collingwood looking for a much needed premiership, the Demons searching for redemption and revenge, the Bulldogs looking for a third premiership in a row, and the maligned Essendon who wanted to prove the critics wrong.
The semi-finals were 2 matches of unexpected results. The fourth placed Collingwood proved pundits wrong by defeating the Victorian darlings Melbourne by 34 points. A day later, Footscray unexpectedly pulled of a miraculous comeback to win by 17 points over Essendon, despite being down at the final change.
The preliminary final was the final chance at redemption for Essendon, and a step towards glory for Collingwood. The magpies shone on the day, defeating the minor premiers, thus proving the critics right in their speculation. The humiliated Bombers returned home after the 57 point thumping. In his rage, Essendon coach Dick Reynolds said "We'll come back here, and next time Collingwood will be sorry"; he would be proven right in time.
The grand final of 1956 was called the "blue-collar final", as it was contested between the working class teams of Footscray and Collingwood. Many pundits chose the Bulldogs to win due to their ferocious attacking style, and the fact that the past two premierships were won by them. This time however, they were wrong. The Collingwood Magpies, coached by the 1953 premiership coach Phonse Kyne, won out by 31 points. The loss caused an effect in Footscray that could only be likened to shell shock. The disastrous defeat left the bulldogs wondering, and like Dick Reynolds of Essendon, Charlie Sutton also said his team would come back. However, 1956 was Collingwood's year, and it was time to celebrate.
A jubilant Collingwood marching off the ground following the 1956 Grand Final