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/daicos-versus-ablett/ Wed, 18 May 2016 04:35:29 +0000 http://forever.collingwoodfc.com.au/?p=10467 By: Glenn McFarlane, Herald Sun journalist and Collingwood historian. This match wasn’t simply Collingwood versus Geelong; for much of it, this was Daicos versus Ablett. The round two, 1993 clash between the Magpies and the Cats was not only an early-season blockbuster; it had the added bonus of taking place at one of football’s suburban battlegrounds, Collingwood’s Victoria Park. And, fittingly, the game would duly live up to the expectations. This would be the last time these two great sides would square off on the Magpies’ hallowed turf and it also proved to be a cracking contest, centred on two champions of the game. Collingwood had beaten Footscray in the opening round of the season; and Geelong, the previous year’s Grand Finalist, had beaten St Kilda in their first game. Given the limited number of people who could attend Victoria Park matches, many fans were going to miss out on the occasion. The Cats lobbied unsuccessfully with the AFL to have the game transferred to the MCG, but the fact that the home of football already had games scheduled for the Friday night, Saturday and Sunday made that problematic. In contrast, the Magpies were steadfast that the venue needed to be retained. But they did seek to have the game played live on television, but the AFL wouldn’t allow Channel Seven to do it. Daicos was coming into the game under a fair amount of pressure. The 31-year-old almost retired after the end of the 1992 season, but the club coaxed him into returning. Ablett, also 31, and born 11 days after Daicos in 1961, was still at the peak of his powers, and clearly Collingwood coach’s Leigh Matthews’ biggest worry going into the match. Gary Ablett kicked seven goals in Geelong’s loss to Collingwood in round two, 1993. In a Herald Sun column days before the game, the Magpie forward said that “in my 15 seasons as a senior player … never has the depth been greater.” “Maybe that’s why people have been asking me all week how I felt about my own game (against Footscray in round one). It’s a funny thing. Obviously, I have played many better matches of football, but some of those have received far less favourable response from my coach Leigh Matthews. On Friday night, he asked me to perform a certain role, and while a few extra touches would have gone down well, Leigh was pleased I stuck to my task.” Collingwood took a gamble in selection before the game, bringing in “burly rookie” Glenn Sandford to give some assistance in attack, while Gavin Crosisca was also back in the Magpies’ side. On the same day, across town at the MCG, a 17-year-old kid called Dustin Fletcher would play the first of his 400 games, in a match where Essendon and Carlton drew after a Stephen Kernahan miss. A total of 24,147 fans squeezed into Victoria Park on 3 April, 1993, with Magpies president Allan McAlister apologising to the many fans who missed out on seeing the game. Ablett kicked the first two goals of the match, as well as adding a third goal and two behinds before quarter-time. Matthews had a dilemma – should he stick with Gavin Brown on Ablett or swing an early change? Matthews backed his judgment, and as Ablett tired during stages of the game, Brown helped to set up many forward entries off the back of running off his opponent. During the second term, Ablett let frustration get the better of him. He was reported for striking Gary Pert with a left-forearm during a fiery second term. It would see the tribunal ban him for two weeks. He kicked a fourth goal soon after, but he didn’t get a touch in the third term. Then he came home with three last-quarter goals to push the Cats closer to their opponents. But if Ablett was putting on a show at one end, Daicos was faring even better at the other. Those who crammed into the Magpie star’s favourite pockets had the perfect chance to see his artistry in what would ultimately prove to be his fourth last game. Daicos kicked two goals late in the first term which dragged Collingwood back into the contest. His second came as he read the ball off the pack to give his team a narrow lead at quarter-time. He was looking dangerous, boosted by the home crowd support he was receiving. The Age recorded: “Sure, he has played well elsewhere, but Daicos trapping the ball deep in the (Victoria Park) pocket, looking up and threading the ball through the sticks from a position where most would hardly bother to try is a performance that deserves its own theatre. Like Jack Nicklaus playing a great round at Augusta, or Don Bradman cracking a century at Lords, a Daicos bag somehow seems even better at Victoria Park. All the more so yesterday because the performance was so unexpected.” The goals kept coming for the Magpie star, with his eye in, and his tongue out, as he put his team in a winning position. Fans would only witness the magic of Peter Daicos just thrice more after his eight-goal game against the Cats. One of the best of his eight goals for the game came when in the last term he had three bounces “before pinning himself against the boundary with an opponent bearing down”. It was his seventh, and it put the game beyond doubt.Sensing the moment, Daicos waved to his father as he ran towards the boundary. He added an eighth goal when he launched a left foot shot around his body when the ball came out of a ball-up stoppage. Halfway through the last term, the margin was 33 points, and even though the Cats made a late charge, Collingwood never seriously looked like losing the match. The final margin was 10 points. One interesting sideline to the game was Collingwood’s use of Barry Mitchell, the most expensive recruit of the season. He spent most of the game on the interchange bench. His stats were one kick and one handball, and that kick was partially smothered off the boot. “It wasn’t his performance today – I mean you can’t perform if you are on interchange,” Matthews said. “We chose to play him there because we had a better 18 in terms of balance.” Cats coach Malcolm Blight summed up the difference in a handful of words: “We just couldn’t find anyone to stop Daicos.” In the rooms after the game, Daicos admitted he was delighted with the win, and his return to form. “Two people I need to thank, who I live with day in and day out, are my wife Colleen and my little daughter Madison who have had to put up with a lot of s— and they’ve been fantastic,” he said. “When I’ve had doubts I’ve always talked to Colleen about it and she has never been negative about things. “I’ve got to thank her for the turnaround.” He couldn’t wipe the smile off his face, saying just what it meant to him to be playing again at Victoria Park: “I would have loved to have been in the outer at the 20-minute mark (of the last quarter) and seen how some of the other guys were acting … It’s all part of the emotion of the game … That’s what it is all about.” Jubilant Collingwood fans would have said the same thing. But instead of a rebirth for Daicos, it turned out to be his last great moment in the game. He would only play three more matches – the following week against Essendon, when he kicked two goals, and goal-less games against North Melbourne in round 10, and Sydney in round 15. That last game – his 250th – was spent mainly on the bench, and it wasn’t the farewell he so richly deserved. Still, Collingwood fans prefer to recall that memorable day at Victoria Park against the Cats as the lasting image of Daicos’ final season – when he went head-to-head in an enthralling goal kicking duel with Ablett.]]> https://forever.collingwoodfc.com.au/collingwood-cult-figures-leigh-brown/ Wed, 13 Apr 2016 00:22:58 +0000 http://forever.collingwoodfc.com.au/?p=10380 By: Glenn McFarlane, Herald Sun journalist and Collingwood historian. Leigh Brown was the unlikeliest of prototypes. He was rising 27 when he came to Collingwood in 2009, almost universally described as journeyman having already played 181 games with Fremantle and North Melbourne, and had played in just about every position on the field without truly owning one. He had a chunky frame, and could have benefitted with a few more inches to add to his 194cm frame, but no one could ever question that he was a competitor, first and foremost. Collingwood website forums were sceptical when Brown’s name was called out as pick No. 73 in the 2008 National Draft after being delisted by the Kangaroos following an extended stint in their VFL side. Even in his infancy in Black and White, when the issue of tanking was raging, a throw-away line from AFL chief executive Andrew Demetriou – “Leigh Brown played on Jonathan Brown the other night … was that tanking?’ – questioned his position in the team. Fast forward to the end of the 2010 season, and Brown had not only cemented his place in the team, he had enshrined it in Collingwood’s history. And the icing on top of a premiership cakewalk was that he had also played a unique part in establishing a template for the rest of the AFL competition. In playing that role, as an undersized but physically strong forward/back-up ruckman to Darren Jolly, he also become a cult figure of sorts to the Black and White army, and remains one now well into his retirement. The draft class of 2008: Jarrad Blight, Dayne Beams, Steele Sidebottom, Luke Rounds, Leigh Brown. Mick Malthouse saw the competitive streak that coursed through Brown’s veins, and crafted a role for him. He explained: “I thought, ‘this bloke’s still going around and can play league football? He can take a nice catch; he kicks the ball OK; he plays at either end of the ground.’ I couldn’t really work out why he would be discounted in the ranks of perhaps being able to play a role within any organisation.” Originally from the timber and dairy farming hamlet of Heyfield, a community of less than 2000 residents, Brown had come to prominence with Gippsland Power in the TAC Cup. He was drafted by Fremantle as pick No. 5 in the 1999 National Draft. He won a Rising Star nomination in his debut year of 2000, missing only one game for the year. But after three years and 63 games, he was traded to North Melbourne where he became a defender who could go forward, or vice versa, across six seasons and 118 more matches. That could well have been the end of the Leigh Brown story. But when he was delisted by the Kangaroos, Malthouse figured he was worth a late draft punt after impressing in some pre-season training with the Pies. Brown only required a chance: “A journeyman is how everyone describes it, but to me it’s more about having a new opportunity and playing at the best level you can.” Most assumed he would take up a defensive role, given the retirement of Shane Wakelin. He did, for a time. But Malthouse began to use Brown more in attack, as well as offering some coverage as a back-up ruck option. Brown reached his 200-game milestone in round 20, 2009, and finished the season with 10.17, with his goal-kicking accuracy at times causing fans some concern. Still, he played in all three finals that season, including kicking a towering 50m goal in the club’s Semi-Final win over Adelaide. Brown played on the edge, never feeling secure about his position within the team. Just to emphasise this, after playing the first four games of 2010 without registering a goal, he was dropped back to the Pies’ VFL side. Ruck combination Darren Jolly and Leigh Brown celebrate after the 2010 Grand Final Replay. It wasn’t until the round 11 clash with the Western Bulldogs that he won his spot back again, but other than a short suspension served near the end of the home-and-away season, he wouldn’t look back again. Neither did the Magpies. He played in only one loss (round three) from his 19 games that memorable season, courtesy of his redefined role. He played the role so well that it kept Josh Fraser out of the senior team for all but game in the second half of the season. Malthouse preferred the combative Brown over Fraser when it mattered. It worked so well that the one-time unfashionable footballer quickly became a versatile trailblazer for the rest of the competition. Some people dubbed it as “the Leigh Brown role.” He had almost 100 hit-outs that season and his pressure, tackling and pack-crashing in the Magpies’ front half proved crucial in many instances. He hit the scoreboard, kicking 21 goals to silence those worried about his accuracy. Two came in the Qualifying Final win over the Bulldogs, and few will ever forget his booming goal against Geelong in the Preliminary Final. Brown thrived in the role, saying: “I’m not sure we can classify it as a Leigh Brown role, but I guess everyone’s got to be more versatile.” Nick Maxwell explained: “He (Malthouse) copped a lot of flak for backing in ‘Leroy’. Mick made people eat their words. Now all clubs seem to be talking about needing a Leigh Brown-type as a second ruck.” Never mind the fact that Brown didn’t kick a goal in either Grand Final in 2010 against St Kilda – the thrilling draw or the one-sided replay. In the drawn game he took an important mark in the last quarter, had 13 touches and laid five tackles. In the rooms after the game, complete with swollen eye and ice packs applied to both legs, he described the feeling was “surreal … it would have been great to win, but it wasn’t to be. We’ll saddle up next week.” Brown had the first kick of the replay the following week, driving the ball long into attack. Once more, he had 13 disposals, but as was always the case with Brown, he contributed far more than pure statistics can measure. He was rewarded with a premiership medal that looked so unlikely only a few years earlier, and with it came the admiration from a grateful Collingwood army who had taken him to their collective hearts. Yet he wasn’t satisfied with that. Brown took his game – and his role – even further in 2011, as rival clubs looked to mirror Collingwood’s second-ruck strategy, particularly with the introduction of the sub rule that year. He kicked 23 goals for the season – his most in an individual year – with four goals against the Western Bulldogs in round six his best display in what was a blistering start to the season for the club. On the eve of the 2011 finals, Brown dropped a bombshell, announcing he would retire at the end of the season. He was only 29, and still a crucial member of the team. Malthouse was “staggered” by the decision. Leigh Brown and Mick Malthouse embrace after the 2011 Grand Final loss. It was their last match as Collingwood player and coach. But Brown resolved to give it everything he had during the finals. He kicked a goal against West Coast in the Qualifying Final and another major halfway through the third quarter of the Grand Final against Geelong, which regained the lead for the Magpies. But the fairytale ending was not meant to be. The Cats ran away with the match in the final half hour. That closed out his 246-game, 138-goal AFL career. Sixty-five games and 54 goals came in a Black and White jumper. This journeyman had finally found a home – and a role that he relished. Such was the esteem in which he was held that he was presented with the Darren Millane Memorial Trophy as best clubman as a farewell gift. With that also came life membership, a reward for Collingwood premiership players. Brown embarked on a coaching pathway after retiring, spending two years as an assistant at Melbourne before seeing his career return full circle when he took over as coach of Gippsland Power. The Magpies struggled for a time afterwards in getting the right balance for their second ruck option. Sometimes you don’t truly appreciate something until it is gone. Celebrating four goals against the Western Bulldogs in round six, 2011.]]>