I might not have been born here but I love this country, especially Victoria and specifically Melbourne. Where else in the world do 12,000 people bunk off work, wag school or otherwise drag themselves out of bed to migrate to the busiest junction in the city to watch a group of well-paid young men stretch a bit? But these are no ordinary 12,000. These are Magpies and this is Grand Final week.

Walking down Swan Street at 10am felt like a matchday. Black and white uniforms crowding the pavements and Collingwood bumper stickers on every car. The police were on hand to keep everything moving but you could tell they would have preferred a regular Wednesday morning - or a final involving anyone but Collingwood - something the officers have in common with the rest of the football fraternity. Not that the massed ranks of the black-and-white army could care less.

At Gosch's Paddock, I asked Jarrod from Eltham to explain to a Pom what makes being a Collingwood supporter so unique. "I think it's because everyone else hates us. Not only that, we love the fact that everyone hates us and that makes us a big family and makes our success that much greater."

This theme is reprised throughout with story after story of Magpies asserting how much their support draws on the enmity thrown at them from their rivals. Eleni from McKinnon remained resolute despite not feeling able to put up any Collingwood banners in front of her house "in case they got egged." Her aunt also revealed how she was snubbed by her anyone-but-Collingwood neighbour, despite them not even barracking for St Kilda.

Making this midweek pilgrimage is starting to make sense. If everyone else hates you why not take every opportunity you can to be with kindred spirits?

A stroll around the training oval shows that the Magpie congregation belongs to a broad church. There are black-and-white striped kids in trees trying to grab a view, dogs in barred scarves, a blizzard of white-branded training gear and enough suits and patent leather shoes to dispel the myths associating the club with the great unwashed.

But what about the football? Everyone here seemed to have two agendas: firstly, to wish their boys well before the big game and secondly to check on the fitness of Luke Ball.

For a first year player with the club, Ball has an astonishing level of support amongst supporters. A number I spoke to tipped him for the Norm Smith and Noel from Montmorency even had a Luke Ball pin-badge. He explained to me why. "He reminds me of the Collingwood great Scott Burns, a player that can get down and dirty and feed the ball out. These guys are just worth their weight in gold. Just look at the game against Geelong. When Bally went off Geelong made a mini-revival because the ball wasn't being fed out to the silky smooths like Pendlebury."

So are Noel and the rest optimistic? After all, they've just disposed of the reigning premiers and consigned Geelong's era of on-field dominance to history. Not likely. As Noel explained, it's Collingwood's own history that stops him and fellow Pies from getting too carried away. "I think we've been in so many Grand Finals and fallen short so often it's best that I don't think about it. Like the players, I just treat it one game at a time. They're a pretty focussed group though and whether it's this year or one or two more years they'll be right up there."

By the time the players stride out onto the turf it feels like half the crowd is just media with cameras from all networks pitch-side and the hum of helicopters overhead. The players look relaxed though as they go through their drills and, much to the relief of the Magpie faithful, Luke Ball seems on course to take his place in the final 22.

As people began to drift back to their schools and workplaces conversations segued into talk of Dane Swan being ‘robbed' of this year's Brownlow. Once again the motif of the hard-done-to Magpie being castigated by the rest of the competition was prominent. But rather than anger, the fans I listened to reflected the determination in Swan and his colleagues that team games are not about individual honours but collective victory. Swan might not have won the Brownlow, but if he drives his team to a flag that will be soon forgotten.

For a club renowned for its bellicose supporters, the atmosphere at Gosch's Paddock today was decidedly reserved, a world away from the feral jamboree I was told to expect. The euphoria of the previous Friday has been replaced by a steely determination and an understated confidence. But then Collingwood fans have seen it all before and are not going to get carried away until the trophy is aloft above Nick Maxwell's head.

As an outsider I find it hard to begrudge Collingwood their possible victory. The sheer number of supporters, their intensity and the multiple let-downs they've had along the way deserves to be rewarded eventually. Win or lose on Saturday, Collingwood fans have a team of which they can be proud and one young enough and skilful enough to all but guarantee them future Grand Finals in years to come.

I can't leave without giving Noel one more go, though. I asked him what he would like to say to the Collingwood players if he was in the rooms on Grand Final day. His response also serves as a good message to the many thousand Collingwood fans that will be in attendance and in front of their TV screens throughout the country: "Take it, revel in it, enjoy it, we deserve it."