CAMERON Bruce is unusual among Victorian AFL players in that he never played in the TAC Cup competition. As a year 12 student at Melbourne High School, he began playing in the Melbourne High School Old Boys' senior team in the Victorian Amateur Football Association and from there he went to Melbourne.

Today, as part of the AFL community weekend, Bruce will return to the Melbourne High oval, which is a postage stamp at the bottom of the school's magnificent grounds in South Yarra, to see his old team play VAFA C-section rival Rupertswood.

Bruce is going to the club's lunch in the footy pavilion during the reserves and he'll catch up with old friends on the boundary line during the seniors. "I'm looking forward to it," he said yesterday.

Bruce fondly recalls his one season in the seniors at MHSOB, whose nickname, the Unicorns, is one of the best in local footy. It was 1997. The Unicorns were in the VAFA's B-Section.

Bruce played on a wing and finished runner-up in the club best-and-fairest award, behind full-forward Dan Woodley (the son of former Seekers star Bruce Woodley). He remembers the guidance he received from senior players such as Woodley, Drew Fairchild and Jayden Purtell.

The only link with the Unicorns that Bruce prefers to overlook is the fact that the club went out of the finals in straight sets and missed out on promotion. No doubt that exit will be under discussion today as the Unicorns try to maintain their place in the C-section top four.

Bruce is a favourite of VAFA followers because he played in their competition ahead of the elite under-18 competition. Through him, amateur followers feel a closer link to the AFL than they otherwise might have.

Fans yearn for the connection that is provided by a local player who rises through the ranks. Some fans feel a stronger connection to players than clubs.

Fans from East Gippsland have always monitored the progress of Sean Dempster, if only because of the commitment he showed just to make the AFL. Dempster grew up in Victoria's eastern-most town, Mallacoota, which is the only Victorian town of any size (it has a population of 1000) not to have a footy club.

As a teenager, he was driven 100 kilometres to the closest footy town, Orbost, to train and play with Snowy Rovers. Today, the St Kilda midfielder will return to East Gippsland to watch Orbost-Snowy Rovers, the merged version of his old club, play at Lucknow, which is just out of Bairnsdale.

Dempster might struggle to identify with the merged club, which wears a version of Orbost's bridge across the Snowy River on its jumper, but the long journey to get to the game should be no problem.

Others who will travel long distances to return to their home clubs in Victoria include Geelong defender Josh Hunt (Mildura Imperials) and Hawthorn's Clinton Young (Minyip-Murtoa). Just over the border, Shane Crawford and Tom Hawkins will return home to watch Finley host Nathalia.

Crawford's metrosexual ways might force a few cups of tea to be spilt during the half-time picnic out of the car boot, but Hawkins still knows how to wear moleskins.

Hawkins' father Jack, the former Geelong defender, is the vice-president of the competition in which Finley plays, the Murray Football League, while other family members remain involved at the club.

The downturn in the rice industry has accelerated the exodus of young footballers from Finley, leaving the club with a battle on its hands to win a game this season. The return of Hawkins and Crawford should provide a rare boost in a winter of hardship.

North Melbourne's Michael "Spud" Firrito is so nicknamed because he grew up on a potato farm in the Dandenong Ranges. Firrito today will return to the Dandenongs to watch his home club, Gembrook-Cockatoo, host Warburton-Millgrove.

Some players will head interstate to return to their home clubs. Richmond's Jack Riewoldt will go back to Tasmania to watch Clarence, the club where his father played 300 senior games, while Luke McGuane is going home to the Gold Coast to see Broadbeach.

Melbourne teenager Cale Morton is returning to the West Australian Wheatbelt to see Lake Grace-Pingerup. It was at Lake Grace in 1990 that Mark Bairstow, during a one-year sabbatical from Geelong in which he went home to run the family farm, picked up 50 possessions in a game. Or was it 60?

Morton, no doubt, will hear about that game all over again today. Maybe the locals will try to entice him home to do the same.

Not all players who go to the local footy this weekend will be at the club that nurtured them. North Melbourne's Hamish McIntosh and Daniel Wells are going to north-eastern Victoria to see Tarrawingee v North Wangaratta.

In 1990, four of Michael Long's brothers took Tarrawingee to a famous premiership. McIntosh and Wells should hear some mighty stories today.