Warrnambool’s Lochie Keats was celebrating Geelong’s premiership win in 2022 at his local bowls club when he got an idea.<\/p>\n
“I said to my wife, ‘Write it on my head: too old, too slow’, because all the media said the cats were too old and too slow,” he said.<\/p>\n
But words written in pen on his bald head were not enough.<\/p>\n
“I was having a few beers with a mate and getting a bit silly after winning the grand final,” he said.<\/p>\n
“My mate said, ‘Why don’t you get it put on permanent. I’ll bet you $50 you’re not game.’ And I said, ‘You’re on, mate. You’re on.'”<\/p>\n
So he had these words tattooed on his head: TOO GOOD TOO SLOW TOO OLD GO CATS 2022 PREMIERS<\/p>\n
Lochie Keats got a tattoo on his head after the Geelong Cats won the 2022 AFL premiership.(ABC News: Jean Bell)<\/p>\n
“The tattoo cost $200 and I’m still waiting on the $50!” quipped the 81-year-old.<\/p>\n
The decision didn’t go down well with his wife.<\/p>\n
“She looked at me and said, ‘You idiot,'” he said.<\/p>\n
“I won’t say what it is, but there’s a name she called me and it’s not even in the dictionary, I reckon!”<\/p>\n
But he has never had any regrets or second thoughts \u2014 if anything, he is hoping Geelong wins again on Saturday so he can add to his cranial tribute.<\/p>\n
“I’ll be down there on Monday, getting 2025 on there,” Mr Keats said.<\/p>\n
It has garnered a fair amount of attention and started lots of conversations.<\/p>\n
“I see people looking at me, and I’ll say, ‘Do you want a photo?’ and they’ll say, ‘Oh, do you mind? I’ll send that to my mum or my aunty, they’re Geelong supporters,'” he said.<\/p>\n
A wall of Geelong Cats memorabilia at Lochie Keats’s home.(ABC News: Jean Bell\u00a0)One town’s burger tribute for its local star<\/p>\n
The Dunkley name is famous around Yarram in Gippsland.<\/p>\n
Former Sydney Swan Andrew Dunkley and his wife Lisa own a farm nearby where they have raised three elite athletes: Lara, who plays for the Queensland Firebirds in Super Netball; Kyle, who previously played for Melbourne in the AFL; and Josh, who plays for the Brisbane Lions.<\/p>\n
Josh is part of an 11-person syndicate that co-owns the Woodside Beach Hotel, where a new item has appeared on the menu.<\/p>\n
The Josh Dunkley Burger at the Woodside Beach Hotel.(ABC News: Jack Colantuono)<\/p>\n
The Josh Dunkley Burger has fried chicken, cheese, tomato, bacon, lettuce and mayonnaise.<\/p>\n
“Should be a few supporters from both teams, hopefully, but obviously we’re backing the Lions,” chef and co-owner Robert Paget said.<\/p>\n
This is the second year the pub has dedicated a burger to Dunkley.<\/p>\n
“It’s great for the business and the community,” Mr Paget said.<\/p>\n
Chef and co-owner of Woodside Beach Hotel Rob Paget says he’s backing the Lions.(ABC News: Danielle Pope)Advice from Dangerfield’s nana<\/p>\n
Betty Dangerfield is a powerhouse of a woman. At 97, she is very mobile and loves supporting her Cats, particularly her grandson Patrick.<\/p>\n
This Saturday, she will be watching on from her aged care home in the Geelong suburb of Belmont.<\/p>\n
“I want them to win but if they don’t, as long as it’s a good game, that’s important,” she said.<\/p>\n
You might think Dangerfield would be her favourite player by default, but in fact, it’s the cat’s former premiership-winning captain, Joel Selwood.<\/p>\n
If the Cats win, Selwood will present the premiership cup to her grandson and coach Chris Scott \u2014 a moment she thinks they all deserve.<\/p>\n
“I think they’re very good, but I would say that, wouldn’t I?”<\/p>\n
Betty remembers her grandson as a cheeky kid.<\/p>\n
So her advice for Saturday is simple: “Behave yourself and have fun.”<\/p>\n
Geelong player Patrick Dangerfield’s grandmother Betty, ahead of the 2025 grand final.(Supplied: Betty Dangerfield)A match-up never been seen before<\/p>\n
This will be the first seniors AFL\/ VFL grand final between the Lions and Geelong.<\/p>\n
“If we take a step back, it’s the first grand final between the Brisbane Bears and Geelong or even Fitzroy and Geelong,” Lions club historian Brenden Campbell said.<\/p>\n
The closest they have come was the 1989 VFL Reserves grand final between Fitzroy and Geelong, which Fitzroy won by 2 points.<\/p>\n
He said Geelong would have an advantage from the crowd.<\/p>\n
“Certainly we’ll be outnumbered by the Geelong supporters there, but we’re pretty loud and passionate and they’ll certainly know that we’re about,” he said.<\/p>\n
Lions club historian Brenden Campbell hopes interest in the museum will continue.\u00a0(ABC News: Jonathon Kendall)<\/p>\n
Mr Campbell is a custodian of the Fitzroy Brisbane Lions Historical Society and its museum at Docklands, which he said was gaining popularity.<\/p>\n
“With the club’s success over the past six or seven years, the interest is at fever pitch,” Mr Campbell said.<\/p>\n
“We’re getting enquiries all the time from old Fitzroy supporters and even football supporters in general.”<\/p>\n
Fitzroy and the Brisbane Bears merged to form the Brisbane Lions in 1996, meaning that over time, fewer people can remember Fitzroy playing at the highest level.\u00a0<\/p>\n
But that does not deter Mr Campbell.<\/p>\n
“We’ll try to keep the Fitzroy flavour in the museum for as many years as possible into the future,” he said.<\/p>\n
How the Cats got their name<\/p>\n
Few people know the history of the Geelong Football Club like Bob Gartland OAM, a former club vice president, life member, historian, and owner of the single largest private collection of Cats memorabilia and documents in the world.<\/p>\n
Just this week, Mr Gartland picked up one of his latest acquisitions, the original 1923 cartoon credited with prompting the club to take on the ‘Cats’ mascot.<\/p>\n
“It emanates from a game between Hawthorn and Collingwood reserve grade where one of the teams was behind at three-quarter time by about five or six goals \u2026 and a black cat wandered onto the ground and walked in and out of the players,” Mr Gartland said.<\/p>\n
“They got up and won the game, and they believed that the black cat had brought them luck.\u00a0<\/p>\n
“From that week, Geelong adopted the name of the Black Cats, and they were the Black Cats until into the 50s and when they shortened it to the Cats.”<\/p>\n
Geelong was previously known as the Geelong Black Cats.(ABC News: Jonathon Kendall)<\/p>\n
The new mascot worked for the club, which won its first VFL premiership in 1925.<\/p>\n
Mr Gartland sees an opportunity for some nice synchronicity if his beloved Cats win this weekend.<\/p>\n
“It’s got a nice ring to it, hasn’t it, the centenary of the 1925 premiership, celebrated in 2025 [with a premiership],” he said.<\/p>\n
An old Geelong AFL team photo.(ABC News: Harrison Tippet)<\/p>\n
An old Geelong Football Club team photo. (ABC News: Harrison Tippet)<\/p>\n
Badge and a Geelong fixture from 1929.(ABC News: Harrison Tippet)<\/p>\n
Geelong memorabilia from the 1920s, including a 1929 fixture. (ABC News: Harrison Tippet)<\/p>\n
Inside a Geelong Premiership book from 1925.(ABC News: Harrison Tippet)<\/p>\n
A list of players and their stats can be found inside the premiership book from 1925. (ABC News: Harrison Tippet)<\/p>\n
A small Geelong flag and photos of best and fairest players.(ABC News: Harrison Tippet)<\/p>\n
More Cats memorabilia. (ABC News: Harrison Tippet)<\/p>\n
Geelong is a football town, and Mr Gartland sees the success of its football club as an extension of the city’s success.<\/p>\n
“The fortunes of the city have been mirrored by those of the football club,” Mr Gartland said.<\/p>\n
“Geelong people hold this football club very close to their heart. It’s part of the way of life here in Geelong, and when the football club is doing well, Geelong’s doing well.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Warrnambool’s Lochie Keats was celebrating Geelong’s premiership win in 2022 at his local bowls club when he got…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":166478,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[560],"tags":[638,109332,64,63,55,639,651,2475,13658,109333,4127,588,85],"class_list":{"0":"post-166477","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-afl","8":"tag-afl","9":"tag-afl-final","10":"tag-au","11":"tag-australia","12":"tag-australian-football-league","13":"tag-australianfootballleague","14":"tag-brisbane","15":"tag-cats","16":"tag-geelong","17":"tag-grandfinal","18":"tag-lions","19":"tag-sport","20":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/166477","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=166477"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/166477\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/166478"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=166477"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=166477"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=166477"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}