Cards on the table.  I love Tasmania.  I’ve been a visitor to the apple aisle about a dozen times and every time I’ve made the trip it’s been harder to leave each time.

I’m not sure if it’s because it reminds me of Ireland or Gippsland (where I grew up), or both.

For quite a few years, the Bulldogs would travel to the enchanting Tasmanian town of Launceston to play Hawthorn for premiership points.

I have strong memories of walking the foggy, steep hills of Launceston in search of my early morning coffee.

It was an idyllic scene that could’ve been taken from an Agatha Christie novel.  The only downer was the fact that in a few hours’ time, we had to play the Hawks, who at the time, were the all-conquering multi premiership Hawks.

Wins were hard to come by in Tassie…

I can’t help but wonder this week what kind of thoughts will be swishing around the heads of the Gold Coast Suns players this coming Saturday morning as they wander the romantic streets of Ballarat.

No doubt they’ll enjoy the stunning architecture of the gold rush era as their morning stroll navigates the deep, blue stone drains that line the streets of downtown Ballarat.

When their minds drift to the game and opponent that awaits them, what will they think then?

I’m speculating, but I’m not sure that Mars Stadium in Ballarat is a fortress just yet.  A home away from home, yes, the land of opportunity for a club born in Footscray, yes, but is it a hostile environment for our opposition?  Not yet.

This is the challenge for our boys this week, and for every week we play on Mars in the ensuing years.

We need to make winning there a routine.  We need to dominate teams. 

We need this domination to reverberate around the competition so that every team that wakes up in Ballarat swallows hard on their coffee with a deep gulp of resignation and those unwelcome thoughts flood into their heads; ‘today is going to be a tough day’.

There are plenty of political and economical reasons for the city of Ballarat and the Western Bulldogs to want this relationship to hold up and stand the test of time, but what everyone wants is a kill.

Ballarat is a football town and the Bulldogs are their football team.  Nothing bonds those two things together more than wins of ferocity and predictability.  Give the people what they want.  It’s as old as the cheers of Rome’s colosseum.

There’s no better time to establish this hostile football home for our people like right now.