Hassab, who also played for combined Sydney, NSW Country and Canterbury, lives in retirement in Port Macquarie.

The Northern Daily Leader caught up with him at the Grafton Cup Carnival last week. He was delighted to learned about the Old Boys’ Day, and hopes to be at Kitchener Park on Saturday.

Memories of that stellar 1973 season flooded back for Hassab. That season the Bulldogs won the Group 4 first-grade grand final with a 25-5 win over West Tamworth.

“Roger Buttenshaw coached the side. I was captain,” he said.

“We did have a real good side. Ivan Wheeler, John “Dallas” Donnelly was a young kid, John Rennick, Bobby “Changa” Jones, Gary Scovell. Dallas and Changa went on to play in Sydney, of course. But we also had a lot of fun. It was all about fun in those days – not about money.”

It was a season to remember, with just one loss, which would normally rule a club out of contention for the Clayton Cup.

“There were about five or six sides that year that all lost just the one game,” Hassab said. “We had a better for and against than any of them.”

This year, Gunnedah are third on the ladder behind Norths and Kootingal-Moonbi. The Bulldogs are fighting to find consistent form in the run up to the semi-finals.

Bulldogs coach Sean Hayne was scathing in his assessment of the side’s performance after Sunday’s 36-32 win over Dungowan.

Gunnedah trailed 32-26 with seven minutes left.

Late tries to Dylan Lake and Adam Mooney allowed them to overrun the gallant Cowboys.

“We’ll have to improve 100 per cent to be competitive with them [the Bears],” Hayne said. “We’re a long way off the pace at the moment.”