EVEN if tonight's Hall of Fame Tribute match fails to yield any memorable marks, classic goals or crunching tackles, it has not all been in vain.

Forget about the potential for Matthew Richardson and Lance "Buddy" Franklin to kick the highest combined tally of behinds in the game's history, or the possibility of Victorian coach Mark Thompson — with September success for his club in mind — sending one of his Cats out to do some work on Buddy's loose shoulder.

This game's most enduring legacy could be that it has provided Mark "Choco" Williams, coach of the Dream Team, a week-long national forum to establish his credentials as the game's new Kevin Sheedy.

All week, Williams has been doing the circuit, spruiking the match and talking up the potential for this to be the birth of an enduring football rivalry — the Vics versus the rest of Australia.

Earlier this week, Williams gave a glimpse into his personal life to illustrate just how bitter that rivalry could be.

His home, he told an Adelaide newspaper, was divided. His wife, Pauline, and Victorian-born son Isaac have sided with the Vics, he said, while he and his other two sons are loyal Croweaters and so will be cheering for the Dream Team tonight.

And so it has gone on, Williams throwing up fresh angles almost daily to keep the headlines churning out.

Ever the ideas man, Williams rolled up to yesterday's training session at the MCG with the notion that the team should pose for a photo shoot not just in their Dream Team jumpers, but also their state jumpers, and their junior club jumpers, too.

Which was great news for the photographers, but a little more troublesome for the Dream Team's PR rep — Port Adelaide communications manager Hitaf Rasheed, who is better equipped than most to deal with the demands of working with Williams — and the AFL representative who had to rustle up a Tasmanian guernsey for Richo.

For the record, he ended up in one provided by a player from the Tasmanian under-18 side that is in town.

In the press conference with the captains and coaches of both teams that followed, it again fell to Williams to liven things up when the enthusiasm of the rest of the contingent, who have spent the past week coming at this event from every angle imaginable, began to wane.

From baiting the opposition: "(The players) are genuinely excited at the opportunity to belt the Big V at the MCG and make you all sad, there's no doubt about it."

To appealing for a big crowd: "What we can guarantee to the people that come — the Victorian people that love footy — they are going to see the best players playing, it's just going to be fantastic for all of us."

Williams was there to sell the game with all the skills we have come to expect from that other master salesman, who is still pulling some strings in his role as assistant coach of the Victorian side.

It should come as no surprise that Williams served a large part of his coaching apprenticeship under Sheedy — as evidenced by his fondness for pre-match mind games and the appetite for innovation that drove his proposal for a revised finals series earlier this year.

In Thompson, the Victorian selectors have cast the perfect straight man to Williams' showman in this footballing double act.

So far this week, "Bomber" Thompson has stayed on familiar ground, letting his Dream Team counterpart light the spot-fires while he tries to douse the flames with his more low-key approach.

So it was earlier this week when Williams provocatively suggested he would have some of the Vics' star midfielders tagged, only for Thompson to come out the following day with the assurance that he would be planning a more attractive, free-flowing approach to the game.

And while Thompson has been consistent in his ability to deflect Williams' mind games in the past, there was one little surprise on the Dream Team's selection sheet that may trouble the Victorian coach right up until the two teams line up on the MCG tonight.

"I'm not sure if you've ever looked closely at the team line-ups," Williams said mischievously when asked about his decision to place Matthew Pavlich at centre half-back. "All I can say is, I wouldn't believe ours!"

Part-gag, part-mind game, with echoes of Sheeds. Pure Williams.