Their presence at games has visibly shrinkingas a result, a shadow of the days 30 years ago when their masses of floggers, flags, and streamers and paper were a fixture behind either set of goals. Previously, they waved flags up to three metres wide, but then came limits on the length of flag poles, then the size of the flags themselves, first down to 1.6 metres, then reduced further to 1.4 metres. There are restrictions on the size and content of the team run-throughs, on the numbers of personnel who can hold them up, while security staff zealously enforce the rule that floggers and flags must be stored inside the boundary fence and cannot obscure perimeter advertising. But the relaxation of the rules on flags is the latest in a series of moves by the AFL to win back a disaffected fan base, following the scheduling of more Saturday and Sunday afternoon games in Melbourne, the proposal for VFL curtain raisers before AFL games and now the restoration of the post-game kick-to-kick on the MCG. West has also been contacted by Etihad Stadium staff, who pledged to work similarly with the AFL to ease the red tape.

"I think it's important if they want to give the game back to the fans that they show us by doing this, and Gillon and the MCC have been very co-operative," West said on Tuesday. "It might not mean a lot to some people, but it means a lot to us. "The cheer squad should be a visual aspect of support, that's what we're there for, and I think there should be some exceptions. It's not like in soccer, we only wave them after a goal, and to put off the opposition, and they're down before the ball's bounced, otherwise they're not up. It's not like they're obstructing the game." West, who as "Catman" cuts a distinctive figure at every Geelong game in full club regalia and cat make-up, previously owned a flag two-and-a-half metres in size, but said he had been forced to scale it back and re-sew it to comply with the size restrictions. He had begun to notice increasingly draconian security checks, recently having a bag containing his flag and poles checked microscopically by a team of security staff, concerned that he was carrying a potential missile. In his letter to McLachlan, West wrote: "We are being suffocated with more and more rules. Cheer squad numbers are down, and other codes are growing because of so many rules with our game.

"I am hearing stories of the fans being ejected, and having flags removed and banned with increasing regularity … I know you are a fair man, Gillon, and listen to the fans, and I am asking you to please remove the flag size restrictions within the cheer squads." McLachlan, the AFL and the MCC, to their credit, have heeded the call. Now "Catman" and his fellow cheer squad members are even more excited about next football season. In the meantime, there's some serious sewing of bigger and better flags to be done.