AS IS the way with sporting contests that end in stalemate, there are many lasting images of the 1995 Collingwood-Essendon Anzac Day epic. Few are as striking as Sav Rocca perched on Ryan O'Connor's shoulders.

The most spectacular of Rocca's 10 marks on an afternoon that netted him nine goals is not easily forgotten, particularly if you're O'Connor, who still chuckles at the ribbing he copped for playing "Jerker" Jenkin to Rocca's Jezza.

"The photo actually became a Puma billboard, and it also became one of the first test cases in the (AFL) Players' Association for unauthorised use of an image in a public arena," O'Connor said this week. "There needs to be five or six players in a shot for it to be deemed an image of football, rather than an image of a player.

"But yes, I saw those billboards and cringed quite a bit. He's not light either, the big Saveloy. But don't bring it up too much, I don't want to be reminded of that photo any more than I have been."

Neither O'Connor nor Rocca will be at the MCG today. While Rocca will be in deep slumber after another day's training in his new life as a wannabe punter with the Philadelphia Eagles, O'Connor will be playing host to an Anzac Day football tradition of a different kind; for the past five years, the VFL's Coburg Tigers, where O'Connor is general manager, have met Box Hill Hawks while the Pies and Bombers slug it out.

His clan will be well-represented regardless; a mixture of "mad Essendon supporters and even crazier Collingwood ones" have attended every Anzac Day game. "It's become something very special in our family."

Rocca, on the other hand, feels quite detached from the much-hyped April AFL football spectacle — if only because the time difference between the US and Australia makes getting any live footy fix tricky.

It will be 12.40am in the US when the ball is bounced for the first time in the middle of the MCG today.

"I'm interested in how it goes but I'd probably have to go to a bar to watch it — and that has to be an Australian bar that plays it. I know there's one of those in New York, but I'm not too sure here," Rocca said from his Philadelphia home, just before retiring for the evening at what was mid-morning Melbourne time yesterday.

"It's hard because you have to start watching at midnight. Or I'd have to subscribe to a special TV network and I haven't actually figured out how to do that yet. At the moment, I pretty much keep in contact through the internet and though I can't actually watch it live, I get to watch replays."

Rocca, who was with Collingwood between 1992 and 2000, remembers his April 25 playing experiences fondly, particularly since he retired from AFL without ever playing in a winning final. He and the man who acted as a stepladder for him in the '95 match crossed paths when O'Connor spent some time training with North Melbourne one year.

For a debrief on the 2008 clash, Rocca may phone his little brother Anthony late tonight. If he wakes up early enough.

From a closer vantage point, O'Connor will ponder vivid memories of the original clash — an eerie feeling in the ground as dusk descended, and the sense that he was honouring the fallen, playing for more than just the red and black.

"I think the Australian people bring something special to Anzac Day, and that fantastic feeling of being an Australian is probably doubled or tripled being out on the field," he said.

"It just gives extra significance to the rivalry in football, that underpinning pride you have in terms of your servicemen. Players go out to perform for a lot of reasons … pride in the jumper, but also to make people proud. When you know something means a lot to someone, it puts even more significance on your need to do well for them."

The fact that he, Dustin Fletcher and Tim Darcy could not stop Rocca that day hasn't bothered O'Connor, whose recollections are good-humoured. "I got to go down there after the boys had warmed him up for me. And I had the great honour of sitting underneath Sav while he took that huge mark."

He sees the day as "a terrific way to commemorate the Anzacs", and the occasion as a template for other clubs on which to produce their own "blockbuster" games.

"I don't know whether even Sheeds, with his marketing nous, knew just how big it was going to be."