Remember when Geelong was Sleepy Hollow, a place where no one wanted to move?
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The chairman of Geelong's AFL club, Grant McCabe, does.
"Twenty-five years ago, no one wanted to come here," McCabe said two months ago.
"It was 'Sleepy Hollow' and wasn't seen to be an attractive place."
Now, to its AFL rivals, Geelong is the evil empire. And it has struck again.
Toby Greene will become the latest AFL elite to join the Cats.
The GWS captain's decision will be met with now usual murmurings about Geelong: how the heck do they do it?
How do they keep landing big fish from the top-end talent pool while fitting under the salary cap?
Is it the once-panned lifestyle? The club's sustained on-field success? The off-field stability?
Cynics, without proof, say there must be side deals with Cotton On, the club's official sponsor. Or mates' rates real estate. Or something shady.
Because in the AFL's era of equalisation, Geelong proves it's first among equals.
GWS great Greene will next year be a teammate of Patrick Dangerfield, Jeremy Cameron and Bailey Smith. And, most likely, ruckman Rowan Marshall, who wants out from St Kilda.
The new arrivals will bolster a club that has missed the finals just twice since Chris Scott took over as coach in 2011.
Success begets success. But that's too simplistic for president McCabe.
"One of the things that has been the secret sauce of Geelong and the success over 20 years is that willingness to adapt," he told afl.com.au in July.
"It looks like a lot stays the same.
"We have had two CEOs in 25 years. We've had two coaches in about the same period. 'Wellsy' (recruiting manager Stephen Wells) has been here for 42 years.
"But around those leaders, there's been a tremendous amount of adaptability and change in how we think."
Scott is exhibit A: a master on-field AFL tactician in a constant state of evolution to stay ahead of the curve.
But an underpinning off-field philosophy is demanding his players forge, in Scott-speak, a non-athletic identity: do something meaningful outside of the AFL bubble.
Wells is exhibit B. The club's recruiting manager since 1994 is, simply put, unrivalled as the best in the business.
He combines with astute list managers - the latest, Andrew Mackie - with stunning success.
Think of current players taken in the draft: Tom Stewart (pick 40), Max Holmes (pick 20), Ollie Dempsey (rookie draft, pick 13), Lawson Humphries (pick 63), Shannon Neale (pick 33), Mark Blicavs (rookie draft, pick 54), Tom Atkins (rookie draft, pick 11), Brad Close (rookie draft, pick 14), Gryan Miers (pick 57).
Or past players such as Cameron Ling (pick 38), Corey Enright (pick 47), Steve Johnson (pick 24), James Kelly (pick 17), Paul Chapman (pick 31), Max Rooke (rookie draft, pick 41).
But arguably it's trading where the Cats most rankle rivals, by  seemingly always paying unders as those outside the empire pay overs.
Cameron cost the Cats the most: three high draft picks (13, 15 and 20) plus a fourth-round pick to get the star forward, with two second-round draft picks coming back from GWS.
But when Dangerfield left Adelaide, the Cats got him for just picks nine and 28 in exchange for Dean Gore (who never played a game for the Crows) and pick 50.
Brilliant on-baller Smith arrived from the Western Bulldogs at a cost to Geelong of pick 17, with second-round picks shuffled between the clubs.
How about Jack Bowes? The Cats secured him, plus pick seven, while giving Gold Coast just a third-round pick as part of a salary dump.
While seemingly paying unders, Geelong have a reputation for extracting overs when trading out a player, such as Tim Kelly to West Coast for three first-round picks.
Such results lead to questions from outside the empire. But inside, they're also being asked.
"I'm always questioning if we should be doing something different," recruiting guru Wells has said.
"Or how is it going to be better next year than it was last year?
"It's reasonable to question what you're doing most of the time."