Drawing on meticulous research and family history, this narrative tells the story of the Collingwood Football Club through the war-torn friendship of two of its early players, Doc Seddon and Paddy Rowan. As teammates in the early 20th century, Doc introduces Paddy to his childhood sweetheart, Louie. Paddy and Louie fall in love, but are tragically separated when both Paddy and Doc are shipped off to war. More than just a love story, this multi-generational saga recounts the battles that each man fought along the Western Front and explores the unique history of Melbourne as well as the decline of the gritty suburb of Collingwood.

Paul Daley is a Canberra author, columnist and multi-award-winning journalist. He has worked extensively overseas-including in conflict zones-and has covered national affairs for major Australian publications including The Age, The Sunday Age and The Bulletin. He is the author of the best-selling Beersheba and, most recently, Armageddon: Two men on an Anzac trail. He is married to political journalist Lenore Taylor and they have three children. He is now writing a novel. For Collingwood: A Love Story, Paul travelled in Doc and Paddy's footsteps on the Western Front, tracing the terrible battles in which each man fought, and stood by Paddy's gravestone on the Somme to ponder who he really was and whether his wife and his best mate really knew him at all. Against this backdrop he reveals the role that the Collingwood Football Club played in the struggling community that gave rise to it.