There is something slightly absurd yet undeniably irresistible about getting your hands on this silverware.
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This is the part of the season Collingwood chief executive Craig Kelly describes as "pretty brutal": working though the unavoidable task of de-listing and trading players; cutting and re-shaping football departments and medical teams.
Kelly, in speaking to The Courier this week, confirmed Fly (Magpies' head coach Craig McRae) and his coaching crew had been locked in meetings all week with the first players to start filtering in for training from next week.
These are stark reminders football can be ruthless business.
Amid it all, celebrations roll on among the Magpie faithful.
The 2023 AFL Premiership Cup touches down in Ballarat on November 11, the second stop on its official tour, with scores of Pies fans scrambling to get tickets - to have their photo with a Cup.
One might think a premiership player or two - even a coach, like Ballarat's Jordan Roughead - might make this tour more of a drawcard. Imagine the reception if a Daicos, Nick or Josh, strolled into town to show their medal.
Kelly said the Cup in its own right tended to evoke plenty of smiles and excitement in its solo ventures.
He said clubs had not typically done Cups very well and the Pies were determined to make this tour count.
It will be hard to top the Ballarat reception to Western Bulldogs' 2016 AFL prize with hundreds lining the Sturt Street outside town hall for a mayoral reception two days after tasting the ultimate glory.
Although, a miscommunication the whole team would be on show might have boosted numbers. (Players instead proceeded by locking themselves away for Mad Monday celebrations and let down a whole city eagerly waiting to host them in our first AFL game for premiership points the next season).
Richmond sparked a little hurt a year later by leaving Ballarat off the official Cup tour even though four Ballarat products in Daniel Rioli, Dan Butler, David Astbury and Shaun Grigg helped the Tigers capture the prize.
The Tigers relented when hearing the outburst from the Tiger Ambush in town, including Ballarat federal MP and Tiger tragic Catherine King. (Tigers' premiership player Dan Butler had meanwhile managed to sneak the Cup into town for a secret house party at his parents' Cardigan property with teammates Nathan Broad and Jason Castagna in tow).
This silverware is a highly emotive piece of history, representing not only victory but everything that went into earning it.
Remember when Redan loved its 2006 Ballarat Football League premiership cup so much, the Lions took it clubbing at 21 Arms with the likes of Brisbane Lions Jonathon Brown and Tim Notting? The cup disappeared and sparked one of the biggest missing items searches this city has ever known.
Cups are rare. The evenness and increasing professionalism pushing the limits in the competition make winning them impressive feats.
Magpies fans have been telling The Courier this is the club's best Cup in decades due to the ghastly lows of 2014-2017 and 2021. Let alone falling five points short to West Coast in the 2018 AFL Grand Final.
Kelly said sometimes the defining moment is a sliding doors scenario shifting in your favour.
The 'Pies have begun re-setting messaging for what looms next - trying to recapture this rare moment and, importantly, to avoid the trap into post-premiership downfall.
This makes moment like the Cup tour a special chance to bask in such an amazing feat, just a little longer.
In somewhat of a fluke, Collingwood has chosen Alfredton Oval as its Cup stop. This is the junior stomping ground of 2019 Magpies' premiership player Nathan Brown.
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