And so it was on Friday night when Chris Judd, one of West Coast's most decorated players and premiership captain, returned to Subiaco for 2008. But instead of blue-and-gold, it was in good old navy blue.
It's an outrageous proposition, but it was put about at Subiaco Oval before the game on Friday night that the media had hit Chris Judd's return with an overly large stick and that it wasn't the huge event that it was made out to be.
Say it isn't so!
Of the several people afl.com.au spoke to before the match, all said they would not be booing the Juddernaut.
Robin: "I won't boo him, no. I think the media have done a very bad job on this, and they should have just shut up and let Juddy come and play football."
Bill: "It'll be good to see him back again – at least there's a bit of excitement when he's about the place."
Certainly the man himself was playing it down, both pre and post-match, preferring to see the humour in the situation.
"I was very nervous about it, and it was a strange feeling coming out against the old mob," he said after the game.
"Every time a West Coast runner would run by with a drink bottle, I kept thinking I should grab one of him, and then I sort of jerried that I was on the other side. It was different, but we got a win and I was just rapt."
Judd was hardly fearful of returning to the scene of so many triumphs, and appearing in front the many who idolised him in his time in Perth.
"It was great – the people of Perth have been very kind to me and I really enjoy coming back here."
Judd's partner, the famous-in-her-own-right Rebecca Twigley, said the reaction was generally positive.
"It was probably a little bit better than I expected. I thought everyone would just go hard on the boos," she said. "There seemed to be one part of the crowd that would boo him but when he would come off all the Eagles supporters would all clap him and I thought that was nice. People support their footy team so it’s all in good fun, you don’t take it personally.
"Just walking from the box to these rooms there were a lot of Eagles people who cheered and said ‘go Juddy, wish you were still wish us’ but that was it really. I haven’t really had anything negative and that’s nice because you know he had a lot of fun at this club and he loves this club."
And, as is always the case with Hamlet, the audience went home having seen a tragedy not all of the protagonist's making.
