Warragul resident Jodie Pitkin and her daughter Ella were among the lucky Melbourne supporters at the AFL grand final in Perth on Saturday.

Jodie and her family left a cold wet Warragul winter to soak up some northern sunshine. They travelled to Darwin and headed into Western Australia with the intention of arriving in Perth if Melbourne reached the big dance.

The planets aligned for the long time Melbourne supporters, and they were among the 61,000 crowd when their team took on the Western Bulldogs.

Jodie and her family are priority one Melbourne members – Jodie since 1980 and her daughters since they were born – so accessing tickets was not an issue.  They had access to the first ticket drop.

While Jodie soaked up the atmosphere and witnessed her first grand final win (Melbourne hasn’t won a grand final for 57 years), she also missed watching the win with her family back home.

She described their absence as “heartbreaking” but stressed that the rest of her family was so pleased that she was there to cheer for their beloved Demons.

And cheer she did, although there were a few moments.

But as Melbourne kicked away to their 76 points win the cheering was almost loud enough to be heard in Victoria.

Jodie soaked up the grand final win into the Perth evening and then headed back into town for the Sunday celebrations.

She hasn’t set a return home date but expects it will be in late November.