The Irrepressible Force - Susan Alberti

When the Western Bulldogs won the AFL premiership in 2016, the person cheering loudest in the stands was not your typical footy fan.

- Tamara Davis

Impeccably dressed in a tailored red jacket and adorned in her signature pearls, a timeworn team scarf around her neck, Susan Alberti—affectionately known among Melburnians as The Footy Lady—says watching her beloved Dogs take out the trophy was the greatest reward for a lifetime of support. “I was in absolute shock,” she says. “For the old people, especially [those who] had been there for years and years, their dream had come true and it meant so much to me.” Seeing her team rise through the ranks and beat the odds complements Alberti’s own story of resilience, and her ability to charge forward in the face of life’s challenges.