CFC Hall of Fame – Collingwood Forever

Alan Didak

admin — Wed, 16 Jul 2014 12:02:35 +0000

Footballers who own the clutch moments – those who almost crave it – are so often the ones that form the strongest connections with the fans. Alan Didak was a perfect case in point. A football showman, the man the fans dubbed ‘Dids’ always seemed to be able to back up his bravado with the sort of brilliance at precisely the right time that set him apart from so many of his contemporaries. He was sublimely skilled, with a raking left foot, deadly in its accuracy and dynamic in its impact. At times he was compared to the incomparable Peter Daicos, which only served to show just how good the ‘Macedonian Marvel’ actually was. For Didak, the kid with Croatian heritage was some player. The fact that there were similarities between the two Magpies of different generations was good enough, even if few could have ever hoped to reach the lofty status that Daicos has in the Collingwood pantheon. Off the field, Didak’s sense of confidence, some might say cockiness, sometimes landed him in trouble. But through it all, his breathtaking moments in black and white always seemed to overshadow the negatives. As The Age’s Greg Baum so perfectly put it: “What Alan Didak had, he flaunted. A shimmy here, a waggle of his forefinger there, a cocky, mouthguardy grin; Didak didn’t just kick goals, he made a production of them.” And those productions made him one of the most popular players of his generation, and the passion for you from the fans stretched from the start to the finish of his 218-game career. That swagger was there almost from the start. Didak was brought up in Whyalla, on South Australia’s Eyre Peninsula, and he cut his teeth with Port Adelaide in the SANFL, making his senior debut at 17. In that same season he captained an under-18s Australian side in a compromise rules series against Ireland. Collingwood liked what it saw in the talented forward/midfielder and had no hesitation taking him with pick 3 in the 2000 national draft. Fittingly, Didak scored a goal with his first kick in AFL football, in the Round 7 match against North Melbourne in 2001. That was the first of 274 goals kicked in black and white, and so many of them are on automatic recall for Collingwood fans lucky enough to have witnessed some of his finest moments. A young Didak celebrates kicking a goal with his first kick in AFL football. Where do you start? There was the sealer he kicked in the 2003 qualifying final against the Brisbane Lions, when he was on the wrong side for a left-footer, tucked up against the boundary line 50m out. With the crowd roaring, and a goal required to sink the Lions, his captain, Nathan Buckley, ran over to ask him: ‘Are you going to kick it, or are you going to pass it off.” Didak’s answer was simple. “I’m going to kick it”, he said. And he did. There was the scissor-kick goal he managed against Geelong in the 2007 preliminary final that almost defied logic, and another failed attempt against Melbourne that proved that audacity doesn’t always pay. There was the clutch goal he kicked in the dying seconds of the game against Port Adelaide at AAMI Stadium in 2006, to win the match. Collectively, there were the highlights of the 2010 season, in which Didak won the club goalkicking award with 41 majors, producing some of the most special moments in that remarkable season for the club. Three goals came in the space of one minute (yes, one minute) against West Coast in Round 14. The first was a beautifully measured snap that he bounced through from the boundary line. Thirty seconds later, he soccered the ball off the ground from 25 metres, and from the restart of play, he took the ball from Jarryd Blair and slotted it through a third from 40 metres. Fans, and even Didak himself, barely had time to draw a breath. Didak celebrates a remarkable game against West Coast in round 14, 2010. Three weeks later came what would be his trademark shimmy. He goaled against Richmond after using his footwork and evasive skills to baulk two hapless Tigers before closing the deal, as he so often did. That moment prompted the great Malcolm Blight to say that Didak had been “born with a footy in his mind.” Then, in the Grand Final Replay against St Kilda, he produced the second most famous smother of that game, when he stopped Jason Blake in his tracks during the third quarter, and turned around a right-foot snap that effectively snuffed out the Saints’ hopes. It was vintage Didak, and all the more memorable because he was doing it under sufferance. He had badly damaged his pectoral muscle late in the season, but kept playing. Collingwood supporters loved him from the outset. By the time he had turned 21, he was a bona fide Collingwood cult hero, having a supporters’ group create a website in his honour, as well as strike the ‘Alan Didak Medal’, for their own best-and-fairest award. It wasn’t just his goalkicking nous that attracted support; for a time a rat’s tail haircut did the trick. But he was also a complete footballer who didn’t just rely on a highlights reel for his popularity. This was never better underlined than when he won the Copeland in 2006 – proving his footy credentials once and for all. He was brilliant that year and was always a menace in the forward 50. Even when his team tapered off he was still a potent force and it was no surprise when he won the best and fairest as well as being named as an All-Australian. At the end of the season it was found that he had badly damaged a knee which required major surgery, making his performances even more impressive. Along the way, Didak had a few moments where he tested the club ‘s patience, as well as that of the fans. In 2007 he became embroiled in controversy regarding the company that kept away from football, and then a year later he and Heath Shaw were suspended by the club for the remainder of the 2008 season after Shaw crashed his car and lied to protect Didak, by saying he wasn’t a passenger. Both worked hard to regain the respect of their teammates and their club. Statistically, Didak’s best season was in the 2010 premiership year. He had a career-best 590 disposals and kicked 41.21 – just two behinds fewer than his 2006 tally – and won a second All-Australian jumper that season. He played 20 games in 2011, but unfortunately his body was starting to fail him. His return in 2012 and 2013 – his last two years in black and white – meant he only played 16 games across those two seasons. When he returned to the senior team against West Coast in Round 22, 2013 – almost as much by persuasive powers of his teammates as anything else – he kicked his penultimate goal in black and white. And when he did, the entire Collingwood team left their stations, and rushed to him. It was a measure of what he meant to them. If the fans could have done the same, they would have. His 218th and last game came in the elimination final loss to Port Adelaide. And when he was delisted a few weeks later, it wasn’t the farewell that anyone wanted. He briefly flirted with the idea of trying to reprise his magic for another season at Greater Western Sydney, but the deal fell though. Collingwood fans were happy about that. For just as Daicos remained a one-club player after the club called an end to his career almost two decades earlier, Alan Didak’s association with Collingwood and the Magpie Army was so strong that it would have been a sin had he played anywhere else. Luckily, we – and he – were spared that imperfect end to a glorious career. – Glenn McFarlane

James Clement

admin — Wed, 16 Jul 2014 12:02:34 +0000

In a post-season meeting in September 2000, coach Mick Malthouse and recruiting manager Noel Judkins were discussing the characteristics required of the defender Collingwood so desperately required. Judkins offered: “We really need a bloke that’s six foot three, and can run and do the disciplined things, and is good overhead.” Judkins suggested someone he thought fitted the bill, a Fremantle backman looking for a fresh start after five seasons. “”We like James Clement,” Judkins said to Malthouse. The coach’s response back was effusive: “Jesus, I love James Clement.” That set in motion Collingwood’s chase for a player who would quickly become the cornerstone of its defence. In time, he would also become a prototype for future backmen capable of playing on both tall and small forwards. Malthouse, it turns out, had unsuccessfully tried to recruit Clement as a teenager to West Coast. The coach had watched him as a junior in the mid-1990s, but the Dockers had first dibs as part of their zone selection options, given that he had played with South Fremantle in the WAFL. He made his name at South as a mobile half-back and winger, but once he joined Freo he spent most of his time in defence, quickly becoming a regular in the seniors. In 1998 he had a brief burst of success as a forward, kicking five goals in consecutive matches against West Coast and Essendon, but mostly he was a defender. He played all 22 games for the Dockers in 1999 but managed just eight the following year. Malthouse was by now at Collingwood, so when Judkins suggested Clement was frustrated and might be gettable, the coach couldn’t have been keener. He’d actually kept in touch with Clement over the years, and the two were keen to work together. At the end of 2000 he was traded to Collingwood in a complex deal that saw him joined in black-and-white by Fremantle small forward Brodie Holland, while Paul Williams headed to Sydney. And as good as Willo was for the Swans, nobody doubted that the Pies ended up with the best of that deal. Clement was an instant hit at Collingwood, snagging three goals in his first game (only 10 more would come in his Magpie career). He was understated off the field and could not stand hype. On the field, he loved the contest, hated fuss, and preferred a low-key approach. He was tall, strong, good overhead but also quick and agile, capable of playing on both tall and small forwards. An educated man, he was one of those players who was never going to have to rely on his football career to steer him through life, and yet he played the game as though his life depended on it. He rapidly developed into one of the game’s premier defenders, missing only six games in his first six seasons at the club. His durability amazed some teammates. In a contest against his former side in 2004, he played three quarters with a suspected fracture cheekbone. And in a practice game earlier that year he suffered an eye injury that would not stop bleeding for two days, prompting concern over the health of his eyesight. Clement’s consistency and his rare ability to win his contests, regardless of the result, saw him become a star in a revamped team that would contest the 2002 and 2003 Grand Finals. He was third in the Copeland Trophy in his second season at the club, and also shared the best finals player award that year. He then won consecutive best-and-fairest awards in 2004 and 2005, and finished second in 2006. He was named in two All-Australian teams (2004-05), though some of his teammates insist he should have been selected in more. “He was probably the best defender in the competition for two or three years,” Scott Burns maintained. “He was an All-Australian lock. I still can’t believe he didn’t make it (the team) in a few other years.” Clement took on and eclipsed some of the best forwards of his time, and is widely remembered for one clash in 2006 where he outpointed Essendon’s James Hird so comprehensively – often with perfectly timed subtle nudges under the ball – that the AFL subsequently introduced the “hands in the back” rule. “He absolutely dominated James Hird that day,” recalled Burns, “and Hird sooked and Essendon sooked, and we got the stupid ‘hands in the back rule’ as a result.” Clement could play on power-marking big men or the fleet of foot, mobile smaller attacking players, which set him apart from other more predictable, one-dimensional defenders. “Jimmy could play on the smallest of forwards and the tallest of forwards, and he would knock them all over,” Nathan Buckley said. “He was hard, really hard, and he made himself that on and off the field.” He was rarely beaten one-on-one, was an exceptional rebounding defender and in an age where metres gained was not necessarily a focus, his ability to break free from his opponent and roost the ball 60m out of the defensive zone was a huge part of the Magpies’ game plan. He was a beautiful kick of the football and rarely missed his targets. But more than anything it was class and composure that James Clement brought to the heart of Collingwood’s defence. He was cool, unruffled and seemingly always in control. The whole defence seemed tighter and more assured from the moment he stepped into it. As understated as he was off the field, Clement proved extraordinary guidance and inspiration on it, and stepped into the captaincy breech whenever Buckley was missing. It wasn’t until 2007 that injuries began to catch up with him. He managed only 13 of 25 games that year, missing 11 straight with a calf injury. He returned in Round 18, and did not miss a beat as the Magpies won their way through to another finals series. Fittingly for a player who won the club’s best finals player in 2002 and 2006, Clement was among Collingwood’s best players in the heartbreaking preliminary final loss to Geelong in 2007. Few took much notice when he gave a wave to the crowd as he left the MCG that night. He was 31, and seemed to have so much more left to give, almost certainly as the next captain. But Clement was ready to move to the next phase of his life, helping to support his wife, Jeanne, who was undergoing a health battle. He quietly gave the game away, with no fanfare, no media conference and no looking back. For a guy who eschewed the limelight for so much of his career, it seemed the perfect way to go out. James Clement finished his career as one of the AFL’s most respected defenders of the early 2000s, and his legacy was upheld by several of his younger teammates such as Nick Maxwell and Heritier Lumumba, who regularly cited Clement’s influence as a key driver behind the nucleus of the group that was to take out the 2010 premiership.

Paul Licuria

admin — Wed, 16 Jul 2014 12:02:23 +0000

If you had to choose one game to explain what Paul Licuria meant to the Collingwood Football Club, it would be impossible to go past a memorable September night in Adelaide in 2002. It came in the Magpies’ qualifying final against Port Adelaide, at the old Football Park, when he helped orchestrate one of the biggest upsets in finals history. In a game against the minor premier, and in the absence of Collingwood’s injured skipper Nathan Buckley, Licuria turned in a masterclass performance. As the reigning Copeland Trophy winner, and well on his way to a second, he was already valued immensely by his teammates and the Magpies’ faithful. But his performance in his first final that night left any impartial observers in little doubt as to his role as the heart and soul of that Collingwood team. Licuria had always had a rare capacity to find the ball (he had more than 450 disposals in seven consecutive seasons), and he found plenty of it that night, having a career-best 40 disposals. But he also shut down Josh Francou, whose form had been so good he would finish runner-up in the Brownlow Medal. So that was Licca in a nutshell: doing the team thing, a shut down job, to the absolute best of his ability, and then somehow adding to that his innate ability to get plenty of the ball as well. By the end of 2002, everyone inside and outside Collingwood recognised that Paul Licuria was an elite footballer. His disposal efficiency wasn’t his strength in his early years, but he painstakingly worked on making it an asset, not a weakness. His pressure was elite; his tackling ferocious. He was, by his own confession, not the most gifted of players. But he worked harder than most, and through sheer hard work and a fierce determination, he built a tank that produced a capacity to keep running when others couldn’t. Above all, he was selfless, always doing things for the sake of the side rather than for his own benefit, and aiming wherever possible to improve those around him. “If we all had a set of values to live by, Paul Licuria would be a ten out of ten,” Buckley told Champions of Collingwood. “There was a little bit of self doubt early and question marks about whether he was good enough, but through sheer will and hard work, he created a mindset that underpinned the way he went about things. Once he had that belief system … there was absolutely no stopping him.” Licuria had grown up as a Collingwood supporter, playing for Keon Park Stars. In a different age, he would have been residentially zoned to Collingwood, but in the drafting era, he was snapped up by Sydney as pick 24 in the 1995 national draft. He had to endure a knee re-construction at the age of 16 in 1994 and then had the other knee reconstructed just before the 1995 draft. After 10 games in three seasons with the Swans, he was traded to Collingwood ahead of the 1999 season, playing 13 games that first year and earning a Rising Star nomination. He was mostly regarded as a defensive player in those days: a dogged, determined type with a big engine who would do a tagging job on an opposition star. But in his third season – 2001 – Licuria took his game to a higher plain. He played every match and surprised many outside the club when he won the Copeland Trophy, knocking off Buckley, drawing some criticism from the likes of Mike Sheahan, who damned him with faint praise by describing him as an “honest toiler”. No one was saying that a year later, after his extraordinary finals performance against the Power, and winning a second consecutive Copeland Trophy. He also won the coveted Bob Rose Award for the best player in our finals series. He wasn’t simply stopping players anymore, as he did with the likes of Jason Akermanis and Andrew McLeod, he was also hurting them back the other way. His teammates loved his commitment to the tasks set for him, and the wholehearted way he approached every game, and every contest. The fans, many of whom were initially critical, did too. By the early noughties he had become one of the club’s most popular players. Licuria wasn’t afraid to show how much it all meant to him. The image of him, arm-in-arm with Mick Malthouse, crying uncontrollably after the 2002 Grand Final loss remains one of the rawest images in Australian football. He was a member of the club’s losing Grand Final side in 2003, too, finishing fourth in the best-and-fairest that year while winning best clubman honours. Licurias was runner-up in the Copeland Trophy in 2004. He barely missed a game across six-and-a-half seasons, fronting up to any challenge that was thrown at him. As his career wore on, though, that trademark resilience he had become renown for loosened a little, as his well-travelled body began to fail him for the first time. A calf injury restricted him to only 11 games in 2007, and it brought about an emotional retirement, announced at Copeland Trophy night. Fittingly, for someone so connected to the club, Licuria has never really left Collingwood. In various roles over the years – as a VFL player assisting the young group, as a midfield and development coach, and more recently, as a board member, the kid who grew up barracking for the black and white is still giving back to the club. He wouldn’t have it any other way.

Anthony Rocca

admin — Wed, 16 Jul 2014 12:02:14 +0000

Originally from North Reservoir-Lakeside, Rocca starred for the Northern Knights at under-18 level and he made it quite clear that he wanted to remain with his family in Victoria and did not want to move to Sydney – the club that had first option on his services. Despite his protests Sydney went ahead and picked him with selection No.2 at the 1994 National Draft. At first he steadfastly refused to move north, but late in 1995 he went to Sydney on a commuter basis and played 12 games. The stay extended into 1996, but it was always on the cards that he would return to Melbourne, and presumably the same club as his elder brother. Rocca would say later that he was denied a game in the latter part of 1996 because the club knew he was going to leave, but coach Rodney Eade strongly denied it. He and two others were allowed to run out with the Sydney team for the 1996 Grand Final, but it turned out to be his last appearance in club colours. Collingwood traded Ben Wilson, Mark Orchard and a draft pick to Sydney so they could bring him to Victoria Park. He showed the capacity to haul down big marks and kick long goals in his first year with Collingwood in 1997, but his overall performances were nothing exceptional. He began well in 1998, but was thrown out of gear by suspension in the early part of the season and was subsequently dropped on three occasions. The club was so concerned about his lack of stamina that he was sent to the Australian Institute of Sport in Canberra for tests on lactic acid build-up. But in 1999 he showed more stamina and had a far more satisfactory year, running second in the best and fairest to skipper Nathan Buckley. He played in a variety of positions and furthered his football education in the process. A move to defence was the turning point and by the season’s end he was able to return to attack with a more rounded view of the game. His prodigious kicking ensured that he could create forward thrusts from the defensive zone. Again in 2000, Rocca’s form went from poor to sheer brilliance and demonstrated that if he could find consistency and a bit of endurance he would have been one of the top players in the competition. He kicked the winning goal against his old side at the SCG early in the 2000 season and played several other outstanding games. His 33 goals topped the Magpies’ goalkicking. In 2001 he continued to have endurance problems and at the end of the season he had problems with osteitis pubis which cast a shadow over his future. He played an exceptional game in Collingwood’s losing Grand Final side in 2002, but in 2003 was suspended after the 2003 preliminary final and his absence proved crucial in the loss. He started 2004 in solid form, but was plagued by recurring ankle problems and his season finished after round 17. Rocca snapped an Achilles tendon just four weeks into season 2005 and came back in good touch in 2006 although the latter part of his season was patchy when he seemed to be troubled by his shoulder injuries. He had a good 2007 season, but ongoing ankle problems meant he only had seven games in 2008 and doubts emerged over his future. Groin and achilles problems restricted him to just four games in his final year, though he still raised one final effort to appear in the club’s Qualifying Final against St Kilda. A committed clubman, Rocca provided part-time assistance to Collingwood’s VFL team in the first two years that followed his retirement before taking on a full-time development role in 2012.

Scott Burns

admin — Wed, 16 Jul 2014 12:02:05 +0000

A strong and fearless defender from SA club Norwood. Collingwood had to wait two years after they drafted Burns for the determined backman to move to Victoria. While the Magpies drafted seven players ahead of him, Burns turned out to be the best of the batch by a long way. The underrated Burns was runner-up in the best and fairest award of 1996 and there were few players who could match his work ethic. Surprisingly for a player standing just 181 cm, he was second (to Nathan Buckley) on Collingwood’s 2000 marks list. A determined backman who never gave an inch on the field and was remorseless in applying pressure. By 1996 he broadened his role from being purely a defender to taking a hand in midfield and pushing forward. In that year he represented South Australia for the first time. The Magpies missed him when he injured his groin in the latter part of 1997 and the bad luck with injuries continued when he broke his arm in the first round of 1998. Two weeks after his return he was suspended for two games then to continue a horror season he was knocked out when he received the full force of a kick by Nathan Buckley. As a measure of his stature in the club the gritty all-rounder was appointed joint vice-captain in 1999. He was a fine example for the younger players in the team. Burns missed four games with a hamstring injury late in the year, but still polled well enough in the club best and fairest to run fourth. He had a solid 2000, but hamstring problems restricted him to eight games in 2001. He returned to fitness in 2002 and his hardness made him a leading light in Collingwood’s great year. He played in the Magpies’ losing grand final side and was runner-up in the best and fairest. He was again a constant driving force in 2003 when he came third in the best and fairest. As he reached veteran stage Burns was still able to make a significant impact coming off the bench and spending concentrated periods in the midfield. He was a fine captain for his final year in 2008.

Nathan Buckley

admin — Wed, 16 Jul 2014 12:01:59 +0000

As a child Buckley constantly moved around the country as his father Ray was a professional football coach after having played as a ruckman for Woodville in the SANFL in the 1960s and 1970s. Buckley rebelled at the age of 14 and gave up footy to play tennis, then his father sent him to Victoria’s Salesian College to rekindle his enthusiasm in a footy environment. By 1991 he was in Port Adelaide’s reserves as an 18 year-old and the following year he had progressed so rapidly that he won the 1992 Magarey Medal. Brisbane had a hold on him and North, Geelong and Collingwood feverishly pursued him with offers of multiple trades. He was Brisbane’s second best and fairest in 1993 – his only season at the club, but it was well-known that he had an escape clause in his contract and Collingwood was over the moon when he joined the Magpies. He overcame the burden of expectation and from his earliest days was central to the Collingwood game plan with strategies built over his magnificent kicking in after behinds were scored. Under state of origin rules he was bound to the Allies team and at times in these games it seemed that he was one of the few men who could build passion about the concept. Collingwood jealously guarded its hottest property and was relieved when he re-signed with the Pies after Port Adelaide had tried to woo him back to Adelaide when his contract ran out at the end of 1996. Similarly at the end of 1999 Collingwood made no secret of the fact that it wanted to sign him for life. Buckley had to work against a public perception in his early years that he was self-centred and arrogant, but to the contrary his coach Leigh Matthews said that early in his career he tried to short-pass too often. Buckley has also admitted that he tried to hide his own feelings of insecurity behind a facade of self-assurance. When rumors were flying in 1993 that he would cross from Brisbane to Collingwood, the Magpie players gave him a hard time when the teams met. As a result Buckley played his worst game for the year. Ironically one of the players giving him a serve that day was Craig Kelly who later became his manager. Even when Buckley became captain of the Magpies in 1999 he realised that he had to tone down his on-field criticism of teammates and remain positive and at the start of 2001 took part in a special leadership course to modify his approach. If the football public needed any reminder that Nathan Buckley was one of the most talented players in the AFL competition it came during the international series played between Australia and Ireland at the end of the 1999 season. Buckley, the captain of Australia, adapted better than any other Australian player to the vagaries of a lighter, round ball. In 1999 Buckley was Collingwood’s leader in more ways than one. Despite missing five games after he fractured a jaw, Buckley was a runaway winner in the club’s best and fairest award and finished equal third in the Brownlow with 20 votes. His powerful kicking, strong and clearcut ball handling and possession winning ability were a constant menace against opposing sides. Buckley was in sensational form for most of the 2000 season, then injured a knee against Port Adelaide in Round 13 and although he missed just the one match, his form tapered. Even so, Buckley’s extraordinary ability to win the ball saw him dominate many games and he eventually polled 18 Brownlow votes, just six behind Melbourne’s Shane Woewodin. He won All Australian honours for a fifth consecutive year and as expected, romped away with Collingwood’s best and fairest for 2000. He was so dominant as a player that the fact he came third in the 2001 best and fairest made news in its own right. Over the summer of 2001-2002 Buckley reduced his weight to 90 kg after having usually played at 95 kgs. He later led the Magpies brilliantly in their narrow 2002 grand final loss to Brisbane. His consolation was a Norm Smith Medal as best on the ground. Buckley had a wonderful 2003 season, culminating in a Brownlow Medal triumph. He polled 22 votes to share honours with Sydney’s Adam Goodes and Adelaide’s Mark Ricciuto. Buckley also led the Magpies to another grand final in 2003, but again they went down to the Lions. The Collingwood star was again selected as an All-Australian in 2004 and he won his sixth Copeland Trophy adding to the best and fairests he won in 1994, 1996, 1998, 1999 and 2000. In 2004 he began fairly well, but a hamstring injury sidelined him for the best part of two months. Despite the setback he still ran seventh in the club championship and was an effective player. The hamstring problems re-occurred early in 2005 and there was even doubt over whether he would continue, but he came back strongly in the second half of the year. By 2006 his role had been modified with more time on the bench and less on the ball, but he remained a potent force and the man to whom Collingwood looked when things were going badly. Buckley retired when it was clear to all that his body was finally wearing down in 2007. After two years in the football media, Buckley became a key cog in Collingwood’s coaching succession plan when, in July 2009, it was announced he would learn the ropes for two years as an assistant to Mick Malthouse before taking the reigns in his own right in 2012. While the intention was for Malthouse to remain as Director of Coaching, he left the club after his coaching tenure ended after the 2011 Grand Final. Buckley led the Magpies into a Preliminary Final in his first year at the helm before guiding his young side into the Elimination Final the following year.

Saverio Rocca

admin — Wed, 16 Jul 2014 12:01:56 +0000

Saverio Rocca is possibly one of the most heavily scrutinised footballers to ever pull on a Collingwood jumper. On his day, Rocca could take towering marks, score bundles of goals and take the game by the scruff of neck. He led Collingwood’s goalkicking tally on seven occasions and took home the Copeland Trophy after kicking a career-high 93 goals in 1995. In his teens, Rocca’s first love was athletics, where he was the Australian discus champion at under-19 level. He was spotted by Keith Burns, Collingwood’s famous under-19s coach, when playing for North Reservoir Lakeside, the club that had produced Tony Shaw years earlier. From the get go, Rocca showed great strength and pace off the mark, but his endurance levels sometimes counted against him. Rocca made his senior debut in 1992 aged 18, playing 10 games for a return of 29 goals. Season 1993 was when ‘big Sav’ demonstrated what he was capable of, kicking five goals in the first round against Footscray. He played the role of spearhead in round two, only to be shifted out of the limelight by veteran teammate Peter Daicos, who kicked eight goals to see the Pies to victory over a Gary Ablett-inspired Geelong at Victoria Park. One week later, with Daicos out injured, Rocca kicked a match winning haul of five goals to sink Essendon before backing it up with six goals against Carlton’s Stephen Silvagni, the full back of the century. He reached further heights when he met Richmond at the MCG, when he booted four goals in the opening term and ended with 10 for the day. A fortnight later, he again registered double digits to annihilate the Bulldogs, snagging seven goals by half time. He ended his second season with 73 goals, placing him sixth in the Coleman Medal. Rocca began 1994 well, his seven-goal bag against Essendon in round five presenting a season highlight. He finished the year with 49 goals, but managed only nine in his last six games. It was during this time that he played his only final for the club, scoring a behind with his only kick of the day against West Coast in the Qualifying Final loss at the WACA. But his disappointing end to 1994 was quickly forgotten by the time 1995 rolled around. Rocca announced himself as a force to be reckoned with, kicking 93 goals for the season as well as winning his only Copeland Trophy. Although the Magpies were winless until round seven, it didn’t hinder Rocca, who benefited greatly from the presence of Dermott Brereton alongside him in the forward pocket. The Hawthorn legend been recruited from Sydney for one final fling at the AFL, and made his Collingwood debut in round three against Geelong. Rocca immediately benefited from Brereton’s experience, and netted six goals in their first outing together. His season caught fire in the famous ANZAC Day draw against Essendon when he kicked nine goals and two behinds against a young Dustin Fletcher. When the Pies finally broke through for a win against Sydney three weeks later, Rocca was in the thick of the action, netting four majors before slotting another 11 goals in the fortnight that followed. On a cold night at the MCG, Rocca was the cataylst behind Collingwood’s 96-point drubbing of the Crows, kicking 10 of his side’s 24 goals to earn the three Brownlow votes. It sparked a seven week run in which he kicked 40 goals at an average of more than five per game, capped off with eight goals from 10 marks against Essendon, a side that was on the end of many a Rocca thrashing in the years that followed. Rocca fell just short of the 100 goal barrier, slotting two in the final round of the home and away season as his side’s finals dream evaporated in the final quarter against Sydney. He never quite hit the heights of ’95 in the years that followed, but remained one of the most potent full forwards in the country. Rocca kicked 66 goals in 18 games in 1996, a year that was most memorable for his six goals on a Monday night against Geelong. Unfortunately he watched the next three games from the grandstand after dislocating his shoulder. He hit hit back strongly in 1997, kicking 76 goals to finish second in the Coleman Medal behind Adelaide star Tony Modra. He began the year well, kicking six majors against Port Adelaide in his first outing alongside his younger brother Anthony, who had been traded to Collingwood from Sydney over the summer. Rocca’s hot start continued, kicking 10 goals against the lowly Demons on a Friday night in round two. He fired against eventual Preliminary Finalists North Melbourne and the Western Bulldogs, kicking nine goals in a two week period under the Friday night lights. Unfortunately, that’s where the run ended, with Rocca and his teammates crashing to earth with a thud with heavy losses to Sydney and Hawthorn, with the full forward kicking just one goal in the two games. He jagged four against Richmond but a goalless afternoon against West Coast at an ice-cold Victoria Park meant he was sentenced to the reserves for a week Rocca earned a reprieve against Geelong but didn’t take his opportunities, managing just three behinds on a day his side recorded its sixth loss in as many games. He was again omitted for the round 15 meeting with Fremantle, only to earn a late call up to the seniors when Chad Liddell pulled out at the eleventh hour. The drought broke, for both player and team, with Rocca kicking nine goals in a 100-point win in front of the adoring Victoria Park crowd. Rocca’s form ebbed and flowed with his side’s as the year progressed, although he very nearly carried Collingwood into the finals when he kicked three goals from six scoring shots on a wet Monday night in Adelaide. By 1998, Rocca was one of Collingwood’s most recognisable figures, but the team’s gradual decline made life difficult for the man in the goal square. Rocca kicked 68 goals from 22 games, a haul highlighted by a career-high 11 goals against Fremantle at Victoria Park in round 10. As was the norm, he tormented Essendon on ANZAC Day, kicking a bag of seven on third gamer Matthew Banks. He also shelved talk of a poor record at Waverley Park with five goals against the Hawks in a hefty 86-point win in round 16, but inaccurate kicking plagued him from there on, finishing the year with 11 goals and 10 behinds in his last six games. With his side destined for the wooden spoon, Rocca found the going tough in the final year of the 20th Century. He kicked just 33 goals – his lowest return since his debut season. Groin and knee injuries made life tough and eventually forced him out of the last six games of the year. There were some bright moments, such as his seven goal effort against Geelong in a three-point loss at Kardinia Park. He also spent some time in the ruck during season as coach Tony Shaw, by now in his final season, began to prepare the club for life after Damian Monkhorst. The year 2000 heralded the birth of the Mick Malthouse era, but by September, it marked the end of the road for Saverio Rocca and Victoria Park. He began the year in fine form, kicking five in wet conditions to help roll Adelaide in round two before snagging six in a 73-point thrashing of Carlton a week later. But as the season wore on, he tapered off severely, with injuries calling an early end to his campaign after the loss to the Crows in round 17. Sadly, it was that 38-point loss at Football Park in which Rocca pulled on the jumper for the final time. The time had come for player and club to part ways, but without a trade in the offing, Rocca took his chances in the National Draft North Melbourne coach Denis Pagan was the man who breathed new life into Rocca’s career, offering him a second chance at the age of 27 with the 30th selection in the 2000 National Draft. He kicked 48 goals from 21 games for his new club in 2001 to win the Roos’ goalkicking. There was speculation at the end of the season that he would move to Adelaide or Geelong, but he re-signed with the Roos and had yet another solid season in 2002, kicking 50 goals to top the club goalkicking. Rocca struggled at times in 2003, but kept persevering. When he was unable to crack a place in the seniors for the first two months of 2004 the writing was on the wall, but he responded well and booted 49 goals in 15 games, including a bag of eight against Richmond in round 11. Revitalised, he had a strong season the following year although it ended in unusual circumstances when he had to be rushed to the ground with a police escort for North’s Elimination Final against Port Adelaide after being at hospital to attend the birth of his child. He was out of the team for the first half of 2006, but returned to be a handy contributor late in the year before announcing his retirement. Fittingly, Rocca’s final game was against Collingwood and his brother in round 22. Although his side lost by 68 points, Rocca kicked three goals and bowed out with a total of 748 goals from 257 senior games. After his retirement, Rocca moved to the United States to pursue a gridiron career. He will forever be a favourite son of the Collingwood supporters who stuck by the club during its bleakest decade, while his performance against Essendon in the ANZAC Day draw of 1995 ensures his legacy will live forever in the minds of football fans around Australia.

Damian Monkhorst

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A ruckman from Woori Yallock who was thrust into the No.1 ruckman role at a young age. He marked time in his second year and although he started slowly in the 1990 finals he eventually came good and outpointed Simon Madden in the Grand Final to help greatly towards the flag win. He was never a prolific mark, but compensated with great strength in the packs. Over the years he resisted all attempts by Collingwood to make him move from Woori Yallock to somewhere nearer Victoria Park. By his own admission he was something of a lout as a young man, but developed into one of the Collingwood team leaders. He said that in 1990 he had been lucky to be picked for the Grand Final after playing second fiddle to James Manson during the finals. In 1996 he was plagued by foot, back and hamstring injuries. He had a hard competitive edge that was reflected in the rough facial visage with the missing teeth. In 1995 he was involved in a controversial incident during Collingwood’s clash with Essendon when he was accused of racial abuse against Essendon’s Michael Long. The case led to the introduction of the AFL’s racial vilification laws. He had a saga of run-ins with Essendon. In 1990 he kicked the Grand Final goal that sealed the flag for Collingwood and in 1994 he ran through the Essendon huddle before the game and precipitated a wild melee and prompted the AFL’s introduction of the melee rule. Injuries restricted him from 1994 to 1995, but before that he had seldom been on the sidelines apart from the odd suspension. Foot injuries and other problems saw him put on weight in 1997 and he struggled badly, but he started 1998 brilliantly before injuries and form deterioration hit hard. After notching his 200th game in a rare victory out at Waverley Park in 1999, he crossed to Tim Watson’s St Kilda for a year and although he tried hard, he was unable to make a significant impact. He twice represented Victoria in state of origin games and later served as a highly respected ruck coach with Hawthorn. In March 2014, Monkhorst was inducted into the Collingwood Hall of Fame.

Mick McGuane

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A prolific ball-winner whose talents were used across the centre and half-back lines, McGuane was genuinely a member of the top echelon of League players during his halcyon days of 1992-1994. McGuane was a Collingwood barracker from his youngest days as a kid outside Ballarat. He was recruited from Sebastapol which was in St Kilda’s territory. Ironically the Saints, who were on the bottom of the ladder at the time, left him off the junior development list at 15 enabling Collingwood to snap him up. His bouncing run was a familiar sight in Collingwood’s advance to the 1990 flag and an excellent season came after he had suffered a lapse in the early stages of his career. In 1989, just his third season on the list, McGuane ran second to Peter Daicos in the Copeland Trophy, and he was one of the stars in the 1990 Grand Final when he constantly pumped Collingwood forward. He injured a knee in 1991 and had a lacklustre season. After his friend Darren Millane died, McGuane took stock and approached Ray Giles, Millane’s trainer, to get him to a peak of fitness. He came back with a magnificent 1992 season, winning All-Australian selection and the Collingwood best and fairest, an award he dedicated to his late friend. McGuane won back-to-back Copeland Trophies 1993, and his vision and finishing ability were two outstanding traits. He occasionally made headlines off the field, but was a generous individual and good judges like Leigh Matthews and David Parkin regarded him as having a superb football brain that was well suited to coaching. In 1995, McGuane’s season was curtailed by a torn calf and twelve months later he came perilously close to death due to a bladder infection that resulted in a ruptured urethra. It originated after a kick in the groin in the ANZAC Day clash against Essendon. He reluctantly left Collingwood after failing to come to terms to a two year contract, and said that he felt he needed a change of scenery as a spur. He admitted that he had trouble in the October to December period when the team’s campaign came to an end, and in five successive Octobers up to 1997 he underwent surgery. He crossed to Carlton – of all clubs – in 1997 and had a rocky start, marked by a controversial dust-up with new teammate Matthew Hogg on the training track. He admitted that he had been under the weather due to alcohol, but to his credit then did not have a drink till the following June. Calf problems plagued him in his only year with the Blues, restricting him to just three senior games, and none against Collingwood. He said he did not leave Victoria Park because of money but because he wanted a change, even though he had been offered a two year contract. A four-time Victorian representative at state level, McGuane went on to work for Channel Seven and Radio Sports National as well as forging a successful coaching career in local football.

Gavin Crosisca

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Gavin Crosisca was the kind of player teammates love to have on their side: tough, unrelenting, a guy who left everything out on the field every time he played. He was a Premiership player at 22, and an under-19s flag-winner before that. He placed in the Copeland three times, and won three “Wrecker” awards for his bone-jarring tackles and penchant for the one-percenters. His final tally of 246 games tally puts him among the club’s elite. Yet for all those achievements, it may well prove to be that his most important contributions to the Collingwood Football Club – and to his teammates – came years after he finished playing. Crosisca was born in Brisbane and played his junior footy with the Moorooka Roosters. By the age of 16 he had starred in the 1984 Teal Cup competition (making the all-Australian team alongside names such as Garry Lyon, Darren Bewick, Steve Silvagni, Ron McKeown and Craig Starcevich), had played senior football for Western Districts, and represented his native Queensland. It was former defender and later gun footballing administrator Andrew Ireland who saw the talent and first recommended him to the Magpies. Gavin moved to Melbourne in 1986 and started with our under-19s under coach Keith Burns. His mother Kay packed up her own life when he moved to Melbourne, coming with him and taking her support beyond simply watching all his games by taking charge of the club’s Coventry House, where a host of Magpies from interstate and country Victoria nested.

Gavin and his mum Kay at Coventry House with Brett Gloury, Mark Orval, Mick McGuane and Greg Faull.

That year produced a flag for the thirds, and Burns’ post-season notes on his young charge proved prescient: “Powerfully built young player shows a determination to succeed. Excellent running player, reasonable skills on both sides of his body (kicking needs further work), straight lines the ball well, takes a strong overhead mark, is a very good team man and is tough. Needs to gain in speed and improve concentration.” Crosisca went straight from that under-19s flag into the senior team for Round 1 of the following season. He played seven senior games in 1987 – a promising start. But in 1988, Gavin’s world was turned upside down when Kay passed away suddenly just before the start of the season. He flew to Brisbane twice in the space of a week – once for her funeral, and six days later for the season opener against Brisbane. From that moment on, he resolved to honour her memory by doing everything he could to play in a Magpies’ Premiership side. Despite his grief, Crosisca cemented his place within Leigh Matthews’ revamped side in 1988, and again represented his native state in the Bicentennial Carnival. Incredibly, given the changing eligibility of state football, he would have the distinction of representing Victoria, Queensland and The Allies over the course of his career. He was third in the Copeland Trophy in his third season (1989), and was a key member of the side that broke the club’s 32-year Premiership drought in 1990. (For a brief moment, he feared he might have missed the Grand Final after he suffered a corkie sliding down the bannister at the Peninsula Golf Course during a moment of “high jinx” on a club retreat the week before the match, as revealed in Michael Gleeson’sCakewalk). Crosisca’s two goals in the second quarter of that 1990 Grand Final were significant in a game-defining term. The first was a trademark long, left-footer on the run from 45m out and the second came after he floated across a pack to take a contested grab. By the time the game ended he was among our very best players.

Gavin celebrates after the siren in 1990 with James Manson, Peter Daicos and Denis Banks

At the start of his career, he initially played off half-back, where his ferocious tackling and attack on the football seemed a natural fit. He was a hard, uncompromising player whose flint-edged honesty earned him the nickname ‘Bagger’, and whose appetite for the contest always won the admiration of his teammates. He was strong above his head, moved well across the ground and his kicking developed to the point where it became a weapon. In short he seemed like an ideal half-back. But as his confidence grew his attacking forays out of defence convinced coach Leigh Matthews to use him more consistently in the middle of the ground, with his creativity an asset. During this time Tony Shaw described him as “the best half-back in the league and (he) is now one of the best ruck-rovers”. The years after the flag were trickier. He would later admit that his own standards of professionalism dropped in the early 1990s, and he was plagued by ongoing back, groin and hamstring issues. But his determination to overcome the obstacles saw him regain his status within the team, finishing third in the 1995 Copeland Trophy. Two years later, he became only the third Queensland-born player to reach 200 games. And he enjoyed his most consistent season – as a 29-year-old – when second to Nathan Buckley in the 1998 best-and-fairest award. A persistent foot injury and the club’s youth policy in Mick Malthouse’s first season as coach counted against Crosisca in 2000, his final year. But fittingly, he made his way back into the senior team late in the season – on merit, not sentiment. His final game came against Essendon in Round 22, when he and fellow under-19s alumnus Gavin Brown bade farewell together. Crosisca immediately moved into coaching. He was an assistant coach at North Melbourne under Denis Pagan, then shifted to Hawthorn before becoming the head coach at North Ballarat in the VFL. He served as an assistant at Carlton in 2007 and then moved into suburban football. But in the early 2010s he shocked the football world when he revealed the alcohol and drug dependence he had endured throughout his playing career – and beyond. He admitted he had been addicted to alcohol and cannabis during his playing career, adding speed once retired, and that those addictions had nearly destroyed his life. But newly clean after his wife Nicole forced him into rehab, Gavin came out the other side determined to use his own experiences to help others. “I want to make this my life,” he said at the time. “I will tell this story every day for the rest of my life if it makes a difference.” And true to his word, that’s what he has done. He helped set up Sober Living Rehab, which provides drug and alcohol addiction treatment services, and has told his story to many different audiences in many different settings, inspiring and educating others in equal measure. Then he dramatically increased his involvement in the Collingwood Past Players Association, his enthusiasm and drive helping to re-energise the organisation. A particular focus for him has been in the player welfare area, improving support for former players struggling with injuries, mental health or other issues once their playing careers have finished. More than 20 years after his own career ended, he’s still looking out for not just his own teammates, but all former Magpies. It’s that kind of selflessness and commitment that made Gavin Crosisca such a respected and loved member of the teams he played in. And it’s helped turn him into a significant figure in the ongoing community battle against drug and alcohol addiction, and also in the fight to help former players who might be doing it tough. As wonderful as his playing career was – and it really was wonderful – these feel like even more meaningful accomplishments.