When the Western Bulldogs last gathered in Crown's Palladium Room, to award the Charles Sutton Medal last September, president Peter Gordon implored all to "embrace the struggle". Not even the biggest doomsayer among the faithful could have imagined what lay ahead.
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On Tuesday night the Dogs finally put an off-season of unfathomable upheaval behind them as Gordon launched the 2015 campaign by urging the faithful not to let negativity become their Bulldogs story, and declaring they were about to witness "the greatest era" in the club's history.
Gordon forecast that Luke Beveridge would become on of the great coaches not only of his club, but of the modern AFL era. In an impassioned plea for loyalty, he delivered a withering broadside to Ryan Griffen, whose departure to GWS was the catalyst for the end of Brendan McCartney's tenure and the domino-like events that followed.
"In 2015, in Rob Murphy, we have returned the captaincy of the club to a man who not only really wants it, but a man who understands the honour of the role and embodies the unique spirit of our club," Gordon said.
"How you want to see our off-season is a choice for each and every one of us to make - a choice that defines you every bit as much as it does the club. In some ways this last off-season should force all of us to confront something about ourselves, and our emotional relationship with this unique club.
"We've braced ourselves every season over decades for the inevitable comparisons that come in our workplaces, or in bars, comparisons with clubs with much bigger memberships, better resources, bigger silverware cabinets. It's understandable ... that our footy souls get a bit scarred, maybe we expect to get let down. We wait for the disappointment, and when it comes something inside us wants to say, 'told you so, knew it'."
Gordon not only painted a bright picture of what has universally been viewed as a bleak off-season, he predicted the Bulldogs would in 2015 be supported by a record number of members, and would "smash through" the $40 million mark in revenue, also new territory for the club. His most uplifting words were saved for the players, and the direction they will take under their new coach.
"We have the most exciting young list in the competition," Gordon said. "The style of play we'll play this year will be exciting, unpredictable, it will be innovative. Even people who don't support us will start to change their weekend's plans so they can watch us."
Murphy picked up the optimistic thread by saying that leading the group in recent months had been "an absolute joy". "The boys and I just want to make our supporters proud."
Murphy spoke on SEN radio on Tuesday of the sense of calm Luke Beveridge has brought to Whitten Oval, the subtle changes he has made in a mechanical and tactical sense, but also the cultural and spiritual shift the soulful skipper has noted since the new coach's arrival.
The last word went to Gordon, who at September's function had implored his club to try harder and think smarter, so that 2015 could "be a year unlike any other". He was adamant it would be.
"Enjoy belonging to this club and pay it forward," he told the gathering. "Turn up, wear the club colours, and approach this new season with excitement. This is the beginning I believe of the greatest era in the history of this club."
