IN THE first of his club-record 341 games, Chris Grant caused St Kilda full-forward Tony Lockett to wonder out loud: "Who's this kid kicking all these goals?"

Grant arrived at Whitten Oval at the end of 1989, a skinny 17-year-old from Daylesford, on the very night that merger talks with Fitzroy were revealed.

He played the first game the following season against the Saints, lining up against his boyhood hero Danny Frawley. From that moment, it was obvious the Dogs had a future champion.

Former Footscray president Peter Gordon last night paid tribute to Grant's ability — both on and off field — in galvanising the club and its supporters.

"During my involvement with the AFL and Footscray, and observing football since then, I respect no player more than Chris Grant," Gordon said. "He's an incredibly good player, but more importantly, he's always conducted himself with enormous integrity and dignity."

At the end of 1996 Grant turned down a lucrative offer to join Port Adelaide and Gordon suggests "there's a very real chance there would be no Western Bulldogs today" if Grant had switched clubs.

"(Wayne) Carey was a great centre half-forward, but Chris Grant played in the last line of defence, centre half-back, centre half-forward, half-forward flank, full-forward, he's rucked for the club, captained the club and stood up for the club on and off the field."

He received the highest number of votes in the 1997 Brownlow Medal count, but was ineligible due to a controversial suspension. "He was very unlucky to miss out (in 1996), but even more unlucky the following year," Gordon said.

Former teammate Scott Wynd said Grant had been a magnificent servant during his 18 seasons and deserved all the praise he received in retirement.

"To be given the No. 3 jumper at our football club is just a huge honour and Chris has been fantastic," Wynd said.

"If we lost Chris, we wouldn't have had that finals experience … playing finals in '97, '98, '99 and 2000 was built around keeping Chris Grant at the club."

Tony Liberatore played with Grant until 2002 and was always impressed by his modesty. Liberatore told The Age he was thrilled to see Grant captain the club between 2001 and 2004.

"Doug Hawkins called him the Rolls-Royce and said whenever we played in the mud, we shouldn't play him (Grant) because you shouldn't take a Rolls-Royce out in the mud," Liberatore said. "He was the Rolls-Royce of Footscray, no doubt about that. He's been a great player.

"I'm sure Port Adelaide would have thrown a fair amount of money at him, but to his credit it meant more to him to stay."