Brilliant piece... Not only have we become that "old fashioned club" but with the roots of football so entrenched in our club we really are THE football club. Martin can sense what's unfolding and is excited. Love that he left one game for ours :)

The 'laughing at the pain' experience peaked for me in the 150th 'celebration' match against rampant Geelong back in 2008.

Biting wind, steady fine rain, cold, and losing by what, 100 points and more? Geelong get a break from half back and they are running in a pack of three with a clear leading option streaming out to the 50 and another player starting to make a bolt forward from the centre square, unchecked unchecked and ready to complete an end-to-end uncontested chain.

For all of the ten seconds it took for the obvious impending play to unfold, all I could do was laugh and holler "Noooooooo... make it stop, make it stop".

Two years later, almost to the day at the start of August, I'll be making yet another trip down to Melbourne for our game against Richmond, and maybe feeling like the pain is finally easing. Fingers crossed, always.

Great article and a great summation of our Pres.

The stuff about Peter Sentzal was really emotive too and you could imagine the effect that had internally on the club.

Martin Flanagan at his best:

http://www.theage.com.au/afl/afl-news/real-sense-of-spirit-keeps-the-demons-connected-20100730-10zuu.html

I'm sorry to rave on about the Dees, but, since spending last year with the club, I know so much about them. I know their doormen. I look forward to seeing Barry and Arthur. Barry King's got a truly welcoming way. Arthur Wilkinson's a legend. Arthur came to the club with Checker Hughes - winner, as coach, of five premierships. Arthur's in his 50th year at the club.

The play he describes between Wona and Scully last Sunday was football heaven!

Another sensational piece.

I have really enjoyed all his articles. I hope he is going to write a book. He spent a year with the Terry Wheeler & the bulldogs a few years ago and then wrote a book about it all.

Anyone know if there is a book planned in the future?

Mr. Martin Flanagan is the best scribe of Australian Rules I've ever read. While George on the Outer gives me great pleasure to read because it's from a fellow supporter, the way Flangan is not afraid to put his heart on sleeve, and gently place himself into his commentary of how he saw the game and how watching it made him feel rather than offer some verbose 20/20 hindsight like so many others, makes his stories bring the game alive for me when I'm not there to see them.