In modern times, some footballers have had a tendency to change clubs as quickly as you can say "pay rise".
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These days 200 games at the one club is as rare as sighting a Carlton player on the MCG in September.
On Saturday night, a man who played 456 games for the one club will be one of the first inductees in the Golden Square Football Netball Club Hall of Fame.
Peter Moroni, one of the best wingmen in the history of the Bendigo Football Netball League, will be one of 20 players from Golden Square's rich football and netball history to be honoured at the Bendigo Exhibition Centre.
Since the club's inception in 1935, the Bulldogs have had a plethora of champions, but Moroni's record is hard to top.
Moroni played 456 games for the Square in a 26-year career with the club.
He holds the club record of 368 senior games, was premiership captain in 1972 and a star wingman in three other premiership sides in 1975, 1976 and 1979.
"Peter would be a champion Bendigo Football League player in every era," Moroni's Golden Square premiership team-mate Shane Rodda said.
"Peter (Moroni) and (Tony) Southcombe stood out as the best players I played with.
"Peter was fitter and faster than everyone else and he just kept getting the ball.
"He stood out in the games that mattered. If you go through the finals of that era his name would be up near the top in the best players in all of them.
"I played with him for 13 years in the seniors and I can't remember anyone having the wood on him.
"He was better than the rest - simple as that. If he had 20 kicks, he'd had an ordinary day."
Rodda said a piece of Moroni brilliance in a grand final was one of his favourite footy memories at Golden Square.
"With five minutes to go in the 1975 grand final (against Sandhurst) he kicked a goal to put us 10 points up in a very close game,'' Rodda said.
"He chased down the ball and kicked the goal on the run and it relieved the pressure for us. That was as good a goal as I can remember."
Tony Southcombe coached Moroni for three years and played alongside him in the four premierships in the 1970s.
"Peter was before his time in the way he played,'' Southcombe said.
"He had an unbelievable knack of finding space and he was a great reader of the play. He was an incredible footballer.
"I'm a great believer that the best footballers are a little bit hungry.
"Peter wasn't a selfish player, but he wanted you to kick the footy to him and he was prepared to work as hard as he could to make position to get the footy."
Southcombe said Moroni was held in great regard by Hawthorn champion Graham Arthur.
"When Graham was coaching Echuca there was a game that Echuca and Golden Square had to win,'' Southcombe said.
"I had friends that played at Echuca and the whole focus for their training on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday that week was about how to stop Peter Moroni.
"Graham believed that if they stopped Peter Moroni they'd stop Golden Square.
"You knew Peter would produce the goods in a big game.
"The mark of a champion can be how well they play when things aren't going well for the side.
"Peter Moroni would have been best on the ground countless times when Golden Square lost games because he had that much pride in his performance."
One of the beneficiaries of Moroni's tireless work in the midfield was the BFNL's greatest full-forward - Ron Best.
Best played 165 games for the Square, including the 1979 premiership.
"Peter was such a great clubman - Golden Square through and through... and as loyal as a puppy,'' Best said.
"The loyalty he showed to the club was magnificent. He made a superb contribution to the club on and off the field over a long period of time.
"The best thing about Peter on the field was that you knew he was going to get the ball often.
"As a forward you knew that when the ball went near Peter he was going to win most one-on-one contests and you could position yourself accordingly.
"When he won the ball he was so quick and you knew the ball was going to get forward quickly.
"In the old days, so much footy was one-on-one contests and he was rarely beaten."
In 26 years with the Bulldogs, Moroni only missed out on playing finals in one season and played in 11 grand finals.
He represented the BFNL inter-league side 17 times and was vice-captain of the 1972 division one championship-winning side.
Moroni won the Bulldogs' senior best and fairest award twice and through his career finished second, third, fourth and fifth in the Michelsen Medal.
Fittingly, in 2009 GSFNC named the outer side of its home ground at Wade Street the "Peter Moroni Wing".
The other 19 inductees to join Moroni in the Bulldogs' Hall of Fame will be announced on Saturday night.
The current day Golden Square players will wear a special Hall of Fame jumper against Eaglehawk at Wade Street on Saturday afternoon.
The jumper is the same design as the inaugural Bulldogs guernsey in 1935.
The starting time of the game has been brought forward to 1.30pm because of Saturday night's function.
Tickets for the Bulldogs' Hall of Fame are still available on 0420 938 138.
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