The idea was not Brown's - he has never been one for theatrical flourishes - but high-performance manager Simon Lloyd's. It was not a mere whim. At the end of 2008, Josh Fraser had expressed disgust that the Collingwood players ''just don't talk about winning the f------ premiership''. Coach Mick Malthouse picked up the theme on a pre-season trip to Arizona.
There is a poignant moment before the qualifying final when Malthouse asks players at random what the match means to them. He comes to Anthony Rocca, who stares at the ground, then says: ''I haven't got many games left, mate. This means everything.'' Fraser, who emerges as a kind of voice of the common man (if there is such thing in this uncommon environment) rejoins: ''It means f------ heaps to me, but it means more, knowing how much it means to him.'' It would become Fraser's last game of the season, Rocca's last ever.