Damian Monkhorst – Collingwood Forever 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 Seeds of the future https://forever.collingwoodfc.com.au/seeds-of-the-future/ Tue, 27 Sep 2016 01:09:06 +0000 http://forever.collingwoodfc.com.au/?p=10799 By: Glenn McFarlane of the Herald Sun Mick McGuane remembers it as the moment his Collingwood under 19s team was linked to the man who would ultimately determine their destiny, Leigh Matthews. It came in April 1986, in the days after Matthews replaced Bob Rose as senior coach, and McGuane credits it with part of his future success, and the bridge between the young up-and-coming Magpies and the man in charge of the club’s direction. McGuane was 18 at the time, having come to the club from Sebastopol, and already displaying good potential alongside some highly-rated teenagers in the club’s “thirds”, as the under 19s were sometimes called. Among the group was a skinny kid from Templestowe devoid of fear (Gavin Brown), a big lump of a lad from Woori Yallock (Damian Monkhorst) and a resolute left-footer from Queensland (Gavin Crosisca). Other likely lads brought together under the coaching of Keith Burns came from all parts of the state. Plenty of them came from the fertile recruiting grounds of the northern suburbs, including captain Jason Croall, and Damian Keating from Bundoora, Athas Hrysoulakis from Lalor, Terry Keays from St Marys, Neil Brindley and Paul Smith, from Greensborough, as well as John Mrakov, from Preston Wanderers. “We were a very close group (in the under 19s) and we felt as if we really connected to each other, and connected to the Collingwood Football Club,” McGuane said. “The first time that I felt really connected to the club, and a part of Collingwood, was when Leigh Matthews got the whole club together in the one room at Vic Park.

LIST: View profiles of those who won an under 19s best-and-fairest while playing for Collingwood.

“It was the whole club, too, and that included the under 19s. We all felt connected because we were included in it. “He spoke about what he expected from us. He told us that, as an outsider looking in, he thought there were too many egotistical bastards in the room, and he was prepared to name them. It didn’t matter that we were in the under 19s. We knew we were a part of what was happening at the club then and in the future.” Fast forward five months, to September 26, 1986 – 30 years ago this week – and the highly-rated Collingwood side defeated North Melbourne to win its fourth VFL under 19s premiership as the first game of a big day of football at the MCG, culminating in the Hawthorn-Carlton VFL Grand Final. Coached by Keith Burns, a great tutor of young footballers, this Magpies under 19s team would prove to be one of the most celebrated, with four players going on to play in the first AFL Grand Final four years later on a day where Collingwood broke a 32-year premiership drought. All four – Brown, Monkhorst, McGuane and Crosisca – played important roles that day in 1990, and had long and distinguished careers in black and white. Others from that 1986 under 19s side had solid careers with the Magpies, 11 of the Grand Final team represented the club at senior level, and a number of them were very stiff not to play a league match, given how strong the competition was. Many of them are still connected to the club – and to each other – as evidenced by the 30-year reunion alongside their former mentor Burns in early September. “We’ve always been pretty close,” Paul Smith, one of the team’s best defenders, said. “We’re all still close 30 years on.” Burns has always had the philosophy that developing players was more important than wining flags, but he knew this particular under 19s side had the talent and the temperament to achieve the ultimate success. “We knew we had a good side, and we had a great year,” Burns said recently. “We tried a lot of young players out that year and tried to develop them as players.” “We used to send them up to the seconds when they were ready to go. But the seconds that year (in 1986) weren’t going to make the finals that year. We still sent some boys up to the seconds (Mark Orval and Paul Tuddenham), but we knew we were a chance to win the under 19s flag, so we kept a lot of the group together.” Incredibly as the season would later pan out, Collingwood’s under 19s side started 1986 slowly, winning only three of the first nine games. Two of the early defeats – one of them to North Melbourne – were floggings. But somehow they clicked, and with Matthews keeping an eye on the young charges, and with Burns polishing their skills and their commitment, the Magpie thirds stormed home to finish third on the ladder, giving them the double chance by 0.01 per cent.

PREMIERS: The records of our under 19s team.

Better still, they knocked off Denis Pagan’s highly-rated Kangaroos in the second semi-final, launching themselves in the premiership playoff. Monkhorst admitted he was “a bit wild” in those days, but Burns was able to chisel off some of his rough edges. One of those times came in a match against North Melbourne earlier in the year when the ruckman took offence at an opposition player having a go at him. Burns laughed when he recently recalled: “Monky was about to kill him, and I had to take him off just to settle him down.” The big man said he loved being a part of that side, saying: “I was just going out there having some fun … We had a really good side.” “Mick McGuane was the greatest football brain I ever played with. Browny was the bloke you would just look at and admire as he was a really competitive bugger.” “But there were other guys in the team who should have been destined for long VFL careers, but for whatever reason, didn’t get the chance. But some of them went onto really good careers in the suburban leagues.” McGuane credited Burns as the man who set the standards for that under 19s side, saying he taught them about professionalism. “Burnsy was ruthless in his approach to get the best out of you,” McGuane said. “And that was even more so for the country boys … Burnsy was really hard on a lot of the country boys, and he was the making of us. “I still love Keith dearly for what he did for us.” Smith, who would later go on to play reserves with Collingwood and Richmond, agreed: “Even after all these years, you realise Burnsy was the best coach I ever played under. He was hard, but he was fair, and he called a spade a spade. You knew where you stood.” McGuane added: “They were all champion blokes in that team – Browny, ‘Croally’, Greg Faull, Paul Smith, ‘Bolts’, Damian Keating, all of those boys.” “We just really connected as a group. We trained hard as a group, and that was an extension of Burnsy’s demands. He just helped us evolve as players.” Burns was also confident after defeating North Melbourne in the second semi-final that the same result would follow in the Grand Final. His confidence was undented, even when the Kangaroos shot out to an early lead. A massive brawl erupted before the first bounce, which centred on David Stagg, who had formerly played with North Melbourne, and who had penned Pagan a letter (not a complimentary one) before the Grand Final. But the young Magpies reeled the Kangaroos in as the game wore on. “We had a good rivalry with North Melbourne, but we always felt confident we would win it,” Burns said. “We got far enough in front in the last five or so minutes, so we put an extra player in the defensive zone, and there was never going to be a chance that we would lose that game, I don’t think.” McGuane agreed: “North Melbourne had Denis Pagan as coach and Mick Martyn, who had kicked a hundred goals that year (and three goals in the Grand Final), so they were a tough side to beat. But here was the opportunity that I had dreamt of since I was a kid. I had black and white running through my veins.” The Kangaroos never gave in, but the Magpies held on to win by 16 points – 12.11 (83) to 9.13 (67). The young Collingwood side celebrated wildly on the MCG, had a victory lap and chaired Burns off the ground. They were even given a guard of honour as they went back to the Collingwood Social Club for “a few beers” that night. But what came next was more important than what happened on that day 30 years ago. In 1987, as the Magpies had an injury epidemic at the start of the season, Matthews had to look at the group of young talent from that under 19s side for senior selection. Four of the nine new faces for round one, 1987 had played in the under 19s premiership six months later – the previous year’s ‘thirds’ B&F winner Neil Brindley, Athas Hrysoulakis, Gavin Brown and Gavin Crosisca. Brindley, 19, received a phone call from Matthews on the Friday night before the game, informing him he would shadow star Swan Barry Mitchell for the game. He recalled: “It was a bit of a shock to be picked … I debuted with a number of under 19s players and also some recruits who came across (from interstate).” “It was a very, very new side … I think it was the start of the building block for the 1990 premiership.” Mitchell had had 35 touches and kicked three goals, which made for a busy afternoon for Brindley in what was his only game in Black and White. “I managed to play the whole four quarters without being rested … I didn’t get picked the following week,” Brindley recalled. It was a tough call on Brindley, who was an exceptionally good footballer, and a quality individual, as Mitchell was one of the most exciting players in the AFL. Burns said of Brindley: “They (Collingwood) crucified him a bit, didn’t give him much of a chance.” Hrysoulakis showed great promise, but never produced the consistency that once saw him touted as a future star. But Brown, Crosisca, McGuane (who debuted later that year), and Monkhorst (who played his first senior game in 1988) would make their mark on football’s biggest stage. Four years on from that under 19s premiership, those four were among the 20 players who helped to end one of Australian sport’s long-running and most embarrassing droughts. And Burns, for one, felt exceptionally proud of the role he – and the under 19s side of 1986 – had played in that.]]> Daicos helps the Pies draw with Roos https://forever.collingwoodfc.com.au/daicos-helps-the-pies-draw-with-the-roos/ Mon, 04 Aug 2014 09:48:53 +0000 http://forever.collingwoodfc.com.au/?p=4662 1977 Grand Final: the absence of Phil Carman due to his suspension from the second semi-final; Collingwood’s remarkable rise from last in 1976 to being the minor premier; the first pre-game entertainment for a Grand Final; the Magpies’ 27-point lead at three quarter-time; North Melbourne’s early inaccuracy and stunning fight back in the last term; all culminating in Ross “Twiggy” Dunne’s famous pack mark and torpedo goal from close range which levelled the scores on 76 each – Collingwood 10.16 (76) to North Melbourne 9.22 (76). The other draw played out between the two teams came 11 years later, and none of the players who been out there for the first draw were out there for the second. The Round 17 clash in 1988 is recalled with less clarity and less colour than the 1977 draw. Contrasting occasions and conditions; the same result, if you like, though there were a few similarities between the two games. In 1977 it was the Magpies who had led by 27 points at three quarter-time before the Kangaroos stormed home with five goals to one in the final term. In 1988, it was North who led by 25 at the last change before Collingwood managed five goals to one in the last quarter. Played out on a wet and windy winter’s afternoon at Victoria Park, the match between Leigh Matthews’ Magpies and John Kennedy’s Kangaroos was witnessed by 16,082 hardy souls -more than 90,000 fewer than those who attended the previous draw between the two sides. And instead of Barry Crocker singing “The Impossible Dream” to a stadium full of people as he did in 1977, the only pre-game entertainment before the Collingwood-North Melbourne clash in 1988 was a bit of old-fashioned reserves watching. There was plenty to see, too, with three ruckmen – David Cloke, who had been dropped a few days earlier, 1986 Copeland Trophy winner Wes Fellowes and a developing kid with plenty of talent called Damian Monkhorst – attracting a fair bit of attention in the “twos”. Matthews had dropped Cloke (as well as Tony Elshaug and Paul Tuddenham) after the club suffered bad losses to Fitzroy and Melbourne in successive weeks – leaving James Manson as the sole ruckman against the Kangaroos. A week earlier, he had dumped full-forward Brian Taylor, only to recall him for the game against North Melbourne. In fairness to Taylor, retired Hawthorn great and newspaper columnist Don Scott wrote at the time: “I’d have hated to be full-forward at Collingwood this season with the time it has taken to deliver the ball and the poor manner in which it has done (so).” But clearly the pressure was on the Pies heading into this Round 17 game. Two weeks earlier Fitzroy had beaten Collingwood by an almost inconceivable 90 points; the previous week it was a 46-point loss to Melbourne. That loss to the second placed Demons brought out plenty of criticism for a team that sat fourth on the ladder, but was looking more than a little susceptible. Former captain Des Tuddenham said after the Melbourne loss that he was “ashamed” by the effort. He added: “The double chance was at stake, but what happened? They wimp it.” Eleven minutes into the first quarter of the game against North Melbourne, Collingwood looked even more vulnerable. The scoreboard at the Yarra Falls end told a sorry tale – crediting the Kangaroos with 4.2 (26) while the operators had so far failed to post a score for the home side. The first three goals came from Peter German after an “inspirational” start for the visitors with a strong breeze. It looked like it wasn’t going to turn out to be much of a 28th birthday for Collingwood’s captain, Tony Shaw, who was playing his 199th game in black and white. As busy as Shaw was on the field, the Magpies were finding it very hard to get on the scoreboard. Only two goals came in the first term to North’s six, but by 17 minutes into the second term, and with some fine work from Taylor in front of goal, the scores were back to level. However, the Kangaroos kept coming and regained the lead soon after, taking the margin to 18 points by the time the two Little League teams came out to play. Taylor had redeemed himself with a brilliant first half, keeping the Magpies in the contest with five goals heading to the main break He had “outbustled” young defender Mick Martyn, who was one of five teenagers on the ground that day. The others were: Collingwood’s Gavin Crosisca and North Melbourne’s John Longmire, Brenton Harris and Dean McRae. The Sun’s chief football reporter Peter Simunovich wrote: “By half-time North Melbourne had re-asserted its superiority with two goals to Longmire (in only his sixth game) and another to the brilliant German.” Simunovich added: “But in the third quarter the wind dropped and with it appeared to come an increased propensity by both sides to increase their already-high number of mistakes.” Still, Collingwood made more than North Melbourne, and two of them – “critical errors” – threatened to cost the Magpies dearly. The first came when Mick McGuane, in his 19th game, “paddled” the ball over the boundary line deep in defence. The umpire deemed it to be deliberate and the resulting free kick to 20-year-old Alastair Clarkson was slotted through on an acute angle. Not long after, Magpie Matthew Ryan grabbed the ball and ran too far as he was trying to extricate himself from the crowded backline. The free kick to Matthew Larkin ended in a goal, and the margin was out to 25 points at three-quarter-time. Seemingly, the game was looking beyond the home side. The only thing in Collingwood’s favour was that it was coming home to the scoring end and that North Melbourne had not taken advantage of all of its opportunities. The Roos had 24 scoring shots to the Magpies’ 14, leaving the door slightly ajar as the parochial home crowd tried to urge their heroes on to stage a revival. The Collingwood comeback started in the middle of the ground – with Manson starting to assert his authority, “rucking his heart out in the last quarter.” Jamie Turner was playing his best game to date, Darren Millane was strong on the wing, Taylor was dangerous in attack and Doug Barwick finished up with two goals, including one in the last term that came about after a 50m penalty that must have infuriated Kennedy in the opposition coaches’ box on the outer side of the ground. Unusually, Peter Daicos had been reasonably held through, but when the difference was back to a point in the visitors’ favour late in the game, he stepped forward for one of the most important moments of the match. Speaking about it this week, Daicos’ memories of the game are two-fold. “It was just one of those really wet and muddy days at Vic Park, that’s the thing that I recall about that game,” he said. “I remember we were a point down and we were kicking to the Yarra (Falls) end. I got the ball deep on the boundary line on a tight angle and I just got my boot to ball. I think I went with a torpedo and just tried to drill it home. I kicked it really hard.” For a moment, Daicos’ kick looked like conjuring one of the miracles that he had become renown for. The crowd looked on in nervous anticipation as the Sherrin spun towards goal, almost as if it was played out in slow-motion. At the last moment, it diverted towards the nearest goalpost, and slammed into the woodwork. It was a behind; the point that would level the scores. “I thought it was home for a few seconds, but it ended up hitting the post,” Daicos said. Daicos’ behind squared the scores – Collingwood 14.8 (92) to North Melbourne 13.14 (92). Not all that many minutes later, and with no addition to the score, the timekeepers reached over and pushed the final siren. It was over. In the confusion, leading ABC commentator Graham ‘Smokey’ Dawson told listeners not long after the end of the game: “And now we’ll go down to St Kilda for details of the closest match of the day.” It wasn’t. Collingwood and North Melbourne had staged a draw. At Moorabbin, Sydney had beaten St Kilda by seven points. As darkness descended over the ground, up in the social club, Brian Taylor was being presented with an award for Collingwood’s best player after kicking seven goals. Taylor said: “In terms of goals, it was my best match for awhile, but I think I’ve been doing a lot of other work which people don’t notice.” His teammates toasted their captain, Tony Shaw, on his birthday and looked ahead to his 200th game the following week. And as disappointed as Magpie fans were as they lingered around for a chat, before streaming out of the ground and heading out across the footbridge, with many of them heading to the Victoria Park train platform, they knew that Collingwood had fought exceptionally hard to come back. They also knew that a draw, as tough as it was to deal with, was better than a loss. And this time there was no need for a replay.]]>