https://forever.collingwoodfc.com.au The complete history of Australia's greatest sporting club Tue, 30 Jan 2024 23:13:09 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=5.0.21 https://forever.collingwoodfc.com.au/players/glenn-sandford/ Wed, 16 Jul 2014 12:01:57 +0000 http://forever.collingwoodfc.com.au/players/glenn-sandford/ https://forever.collingwoodfc.com.au/players/jason-croall/ Wed, 16 Jul 2014 12:01:38 +0000 http://forever.collingwoodfc.com.au/players/jason-croall/ Croall played on future North Melbourne champion Mick Martyn (who was then playing as a full forward) in the under-19 premiership and ensured he did not kick his 100th goal for the season. He made his senior debut the following season, and played a career-high 17 senior games in the No. 56 jumper. Although he managed 11 games in 1988, opportunities dried up in the years that followed. Croall played a total of nine senior games across his final four seasons, often late in the year. He played two games in 1990 and made his final appearance against North Melbourne in round 22, 1992. Croall captained the reserves team in 1992 and won the Joseph Wren Memorial Trophy as the side’s best and fairest player. Once he left Victoria Park, Croall tried out at Melbourne ahead of the Pre-Season Draft but hurt his knee during a practice match, thwarting his chances of a second chance. Croall moved to Sandringham and later Northcote Park, where he won a premiership in 1999.]]> https://forever.collingwoodfc.com.au/players/neil-brindley/ Wed, 16 Jul 2014 12:01:34 +0000 http://forever.collingwoodfc.com.au/players/neil-brindley/ https://forever.collingwoodfc.com.au/players/darren-collins/ Wed, 16 Jul 2014 12:01:27 +0000 http://forever.collingwoodfc.com.au/players/darren-collins/ The Sunwondered if he might be that long-awaited rover Collingwood had chased for so long: “Keen judges have likened Collins to the late Peter Crimmins and Magpie officials are hopeful that he will be the answer to the team’s roving problems.” Collins went from Preston East High School student on the Friday to Collingwood senior footballer the following day. But as much as he performed creditably, the 17-year-old’s team didn’t. Collins kicked two goals, two behinds and had 14 disposals, but the Magpies were never in the game, losing by 79 points. He kicked two goals against Hawthorn in his second game, then scored 4.3 from 18 disposals in his third game against St Kilda. Seven weeks later he kicked 5.1 against Sydney, with one of the observers calling him “gutsy” and “unbeatable”.   One newspaper noted that, even though he was considered a rover of the future, he was mainly being used in attack. It was said that he “impressed with his uncanny ability to develop the loose man, particularly near goals.” His 15 games in his debut year yielded 24 goals, a fine start to his Collingwood career, and it seemed as if a long stint was ahead of him at Victoria Park. But a broken collarbone in the preseason leading into 1986 held him back. It set the tone for the year ahead as injuries began to restrict him. He ended up playing six games for the year, kicking only four goals. Still, Collins wasn’t expecting what came next. He was given his marching orders from Collingwood before the 1987 season, which was a shock to him and also to those who had watched him in his debut year. Footscray gave him a chance, and he played 24 games there over three seasons.   After leaving the Dogs he was picked up by Fitzroy in the 1990 midseason draft. The Sunsaid of the 23-year-old at the time: “If Australian golfer Greg Norman had footballer Darren Collins’ confidence, he’d already have the 1990 British Open in the bag. Collins may have clocked up a healthy list of clubs for one so young, but he has no doubt he has what it takes to make the big league.” He managed four games with the Lions, finishing his League career with 49 games in total. It was an abbreviated league career, but Collins still made his mark, and is still remembered by the Magpie faithful for that teenage spirit he showed in his debut season.]]> https://forever.collingwoodfc.com.au/players/ron-mckeown/ Wed, 16 Jul 2014 12:01:23 +0000 http://forever.collingwoodfc.com.au/players/ron-mckeown/ He was often the player who would make way for others when a bad loss came, and on several occasions was touted for possible trade, while maintaining himself that he could never play against the club that gave him his chance to play league football. As a defender, the 188cm, 96kg McKeown was well suited to one-on-one battles, in an age when defenders had to take on the might of some of the game’s greatest forwards in Tony Lockett and Jason Dunstall. As a forward, he was capable of providing a target in attack, and was a prodigious kick with a fine sense of judgement and a good set of hands. Asked to describe his career after his retirement, he summed it up perfectly: “I was a quiet sort who just went out and did my job.” McKeown first came under notice from Collingwood as a teenager playing with Macleod, in the Magpies’ natural catchment area of the northern suburbs. He grew up as an Essendon supporter; his favourite player being Ron Andrews, not knowing that he would later play one season with him – albeit in a black and white jumper. He would tell the Sunday Herald Sun: “As a kid I’d go and watch Ronny Andrews every week. When he came to Victoria Park I thought it was fantastic. I was Essendon mad before Collingwood and still have a soft spot for them.” He excelled almost from the time he came to Collingwood, winning the club’s under 19s best-and-fairest award in 1983, and a year later was a member of the Australian schoolboys’ team which toured Ireland. Such was his impact that he was selected to debut for the Magpies as a 17-year-old, against Carlton, at Waverley, in Round 15, 1984. Wearing No.25, he played in defence in that first game, against Paul Meldrum. He ended up playing six games that season – including two finals, a semi-final win over Carlton, and a preliminary final thrashing at the hands of the team he supported as a kid, Essendon. McKeown booted 10 goals from 15 games in his second season in 1985, and 24 from 17 games in 1986. As a 19-year-old, he kicked 8.1 from half-forward in Collingwood’s dismantling of reigning premiers Essendon in Round 12, 1986, at Waverley. “I’d never kicked eight goals, not even in juniors (at Macleod),” he said. “Four came in the second quarter. I got one Brownlow vote.” That would be his biggest return in a game, and the Age, would describe him as “a strapping cut of a young man who knows how to kick a goal … with a strong pair of hands and surprising spring.” But a series of career-interruptions cut into his effectiveness, most tellingly with stress fractures in his foot which kept him on the sidelines. He managed only four games in 1987, and eight in 1988. McKeown had been dropped from the senior team on the eve of the 1988 finals series, but fought his way back into the side for the semi-final against Melbourne. He kicked two goals in the Magpies’ loss to the Demons, but almost didn’t play that day as his grandfather had died only hours beforehand. “I was very upset when my grandfather died, I thought about pulling out of the game,” he recalled. He had been in tears when arriving at the ground, but played the match as a tribute and ended up being one of the club’s best performers. McKeown was overlooked in the early rounds of 1989, but recalled to play on Lockett in Round 4, and kept the star Saint to only five goals. Later that season he was beaten by Dunstall and shifted forward, where he kicked 5.0 in a team that lost by 10 goals. He played 14 games in 1989, alternating between defence and attack, but Matthews was emphatic when asked McKeown’s best position: “Full back”. That’s where he played for much of 1990 – the year he considered was his best and most consistent season. Now wearing No.5, he played 20 games – his most in any season – but fell out of favour at the wrong time. It came just before Collingwood’s second semi-final clash with Essendon when coach Leigh Matthews told him pre-game: “We’ve got no one for you to play on.” McKeown would detail the moment he found out he had been dropped, for match-up reasons, when his name wasn’t on the whiteboard. In Michael Gleeson’s book, Cakewalk,he explained: “I didn’t know what to think; I didn’t know whether to get up and walk out.” To McKeown’s credit, he accepted the decision – even if he didn’t agree with it – and never publicly criticised Matthews for the shock omission, even when he had to watch Collingwood go on to win its first premiership in 32 years a fortnight later. That night he told the Sun: “The thing that really got to me was that I’d played full-back all year on the Locketts and the Dunstalls and all that. It’s disappointing for myself, but it’s good for the team. I don’t want to be a whinger, but you just don’t feel a part of it when you’re not playing in it.” A letter sent to him from Hawthorn’s Peter Schwab, who had missed the 1989 Grand Final due to suspension, convinced McKeown to stay at Collingwood. He kicked five goals in the opening round of 1991, just a week after he and his wife endured the personal tragedy of losing their prematurely born twins. Soon after, he took some time away from the game to mourn, unsure if he would return. But his love of the club enticed him back: “I missed playing and it seemed strange after eight years with the club.” That return saw him pass the 100-game milestone, as he continued to play good football in defence. But the recruitment of Gary Pert for the 1992 season cost him the full-back role. He was shifted forward, and kicked 29 goals from 13 games in 1992, including 5.1 in an elimination final loss to St Kilda. He would play one final season for Collingwood in 1993, taking his final tally to 123 games and 105 goals before announcing his retirement. McKeown contemplated a comeback in late 1995 when Tony Shaw took over as coach, but opted against it, instead playing on at local level before becoming football operations manager at the Northern Football League. He and his wife Jo had three more children, including son Ned, who spent time on Collingwood’s VFL development list.]]> https://forever.collingwoodfc.com.au/players/andrew-smith/ Wed, 16 Jul 2014 12:01:05 +0000 http://forever.collingwoodfc.com.au/players/andrew-smith/ Sun News-Pictorialleading into the next game. The Sun described Smith’s attributes as being important to Collingwood’s finals campaign: “He plays close and strong, shoulder to shoulder with the best opponents, but still has enough confidence to back himself when he has the break … Fast and long-striding, he is a one-grab ball handler, and a penetrating left foot kick.” Smith played two finals that season. He gathered a respectable 14 disposals in the qualifying final loss to Geelong, but his luck ran out during the first semi-final against Fitzroy. The Magpies won the game by the smallest possible margin, thanks to a late goal to Ross Brewer, but lost skipper Peter Moore to a now-infamous hamstring injury and Smith to a less well-remembered dislocated shoulder. Smith’s season was over. Injuries again played a role in restricting him to only 11 of a possible 22 games in Collingwood’s divisive 1982 season. But he was looking for a change of fortune in 1983, with the Sun saying during the preseason “Smith has worked hard … and is one of the fittest players at Victoria Park.” Then came the moment that many, including Burns, believe changed his VFL career.  “Andrew was a great young player – tough as absolute nails, a good left-footer and he was playing along nicely,” Burns recalled. But in a fiery charity practice match against Footscray at Waverley – played as a curtain-raiser to the Sun All-Stars v Carlton fundraiser for the Ash Wednesday bushfire victims – Smith had his jaw broken and lost several teeth in a controversial first-term incident involving Bulldog Steve Macpherson. Five players were reported from the match, including Macpherson, but the Magpies were so furious with what had happened that they convened a special board meeting the following night to discuss what further action could be taken. Smith was photographed in St Vincent’s Hospital, with newspapers saying he was unwilling to discuss the incident, which wasn’t surprising given the extensive surgery he had to undergo to repair his shattered jaw. He missed 13 weeks of football, returning later in the 1983 season for three games (one of them against Footscray), but he had minimal impact. Burns remains certain the incident shook him: “Andrew lost confidence about his toughness and I don’t think he was ever the same player again.” Smith agreed, saying later: “The couple of years after my injury were lean years for me.” Two more games, played only off the bench, came during the 1984 season, which was the same year that he launched legal proceedings against Macpherson for $100,000 damages. The Sundescribed the proceedings as “the first case involving a VFL player claiming damages against an opposition player.” In the summons issued by 24-year-old Smith, it alleged “Macpherson assaulted him by striking him to the head with his fist.” The claim was for “personal injury damage” of $100,000 and “exemplary damages for a broken jaw (in two places), the loss of a lower wisdom tooth, maloclussion (swelling of the brain), concussion, facial swelling and numbness, internal facial laceration, shock, and pain and suffering.” He claimed that while still employed by Collingwood, “as a result of his injuries, his employment versatility as a professional footballer may have been permanently impaired.” The claim was finally settled out of court in the late 1980s. Unable to break back into a permanent role with Collingwood, Smith moved to Sydney in an effort to revive his fortunes at the start of the 1985 season. But after playing the first four games, he didn’t get another chance, and his VFL career was over. He later joined Brunswick in the VFA, but it wasn’t the black and white finish many had forecast for him. Andrew Smith had shown so much promise in his 30 games from his first three seasons with Collingwood, but sadly played only five following the broken jaw. His former coach Burns isn’t the only one who still believes that cost ‘Pud’ the chance of becoming a Magpie star.]]> https://forever.collingwoodfc.com.au/players/mick-warren/ Wed, 16 Jul 2014 12:01:02 +0000 http://forever.collingwoodfc.com.au/players/mick-warren/ https://forever.collingwoodfc.com.au/players/terry-a-cahill/ Wed, 16 Jul 2014 12:00:44 +0000 http://forever.collingwoodfc.com.au/players/terry-a-cahill/ https://forever.collingwoodfc.com.au/players/john-wise/ Wed, 16 Jul 2014 12:00:44 +0000 http://forever.collingwoodfc.com.au/players/john-wise/ https://forever.collingwoodfc.com.au/players/danny-osullivan/ Wed, 16 Jul 2014 12:00:37 +0000 http://forever.collingwoodfc.com.au/players/danny-osullivan/