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/michael-taylor/ Wed, 16 Jul 2014 12:01:07 +0000 http://forever.collingwoodfc.com.au/players/michael-taylor/ Adelaide Advertiser. “But I went to Collingwood thinking I would play only one year – I stayed for four because I enjoyed it so much.” Taylor settled in quickly, playing 24 matches in his first season, as Hafey and his Magpies made it through to the Grand Final against Carlton. The Magpies lost, but Taylor performed well on the big stage. He won the club’s most determined player in his debut year. His form improved even further in the following years, finishing runner-up in both the 1982 and 1983 Copeland Trophies. As Mike Coward wrote in his book Men of Norwood, Taylor was not the archetypal Australian football champion: “He lacked pace and rarely leapt high to mark overhead. He was, nonetheless, a gifted player of remarkable consistency, dependability and durability. The hallmark of his game was an ability to read the game from afar. Such was his pre-vision that, despite his lack of leg power, invariably he had the time to optimise his considerable kicking and handballing skills. Self-motivated, brave, scrupulously fair and highly disciplined, he …was an idol of followers young and old.” His teammates also loved him, lauding his quietly-spoken leadership qualities. Taylor often helped to drive the training standards at Victoria Park. He fitted perfectly into a defensive role the longer he remained at the club. After the Magpies bowed out with a flogging in the 1984 preliminary final, Taylor returned home to South Australia – and to Norwood, where he ended up winning a sixth best-and-fairest – a feat that saw the club eventually name the award after him. But a phone call from Collingwood ahead of the 1988 season saw him end his SANFL career and shift back to Melbourne to become Leigh Matthews’ assistant coach. He also offered to keep playing in the reserves to help teach the younger players. His form was so good there that, even at 34 years of age, he was seriously close to a senior recall. Instead he contributed just in his coaching capacity. Peter Daicos said of Taylor in 1990: “As assistant to Leigh Matthews this fitness fanatic and super clubman has been one of the quiet forces behind the club’s success. His application to training is second to none. He does everything we do, not because he has to, but because he wants to set an example to others. His quiet, encouraging manner also is a source of strength.” Taylor played a significant role in helping to develop so many of the young Magpies who helped break a 32-year premiership drought in 1990. It was his third and final season as Matthews’ assistant coach. After that, he became an assistant to Graham Cornes with the inaugural Adelaide Crows team, and when Cornes left, it was understood that many of the players wanted him to be the successor. Sadly, that never happened. But Taylor accepted the decision with the same grace and dignity that he displayed across his entire career. Leigh Matthews summed him up when he said: “You wouldn’t find someone so universally respected, so universally regarded … as Michael Taylor.”]]> https://forever.collingwoodfc.com.au/players/russell-ohlsen/ Wed, 16 Jul 2014 12:00:58 +0000 http://forever.collingwoodfc.com.au/players/russell-ohlsen/ https://forever.collingwoodfc.com.au/players/ray-byrne/ Wed, 16 Jul 2014 12:00:55 +0000 http://forever.collingwoodfc.com.au/players/ray-byrne/ Sun newspaper at one stage labelling him “one of the most desperate and disciplined players in the VFL”. Byrne played in four successive finals campaigns at Collingwood, including three Grand Finals losses in a row (1979, 1980 and 1981). Mostly used as a back pocket and half-back flanker, and occasionally on the wing, Byrne was a cool customer under pressure, even in the heat of his 22 finals. One of his best performances came when he blanketed Geelong’s Terry Bright in the 1980 preliminary final. That was his best individual season, too, as he finished runner-up to Peter Moore in the 1980 Copeland Trophy, won the club’s most determined award, and was selected to play for Victoria. “I thought we were going to win in 1979,’’ he told the Bendigo Advertiserof Collingwood’s five-point Grand Final loss to Carlton. “We had a lot of injuries and it cost us. In 1980, no one would have beaten Richmond (the Magpies lost the Grand Final by 81 points). In 1981, I thought we had Carlton. They got two late goals in the third quarter and then they got a run-on in the last quarter. I didn’t walk up to get my runners-up medal. I just walked off the ground. I found it hard to come up after 1981. I never played anywhere near as well after that.” Byrne was a practical joker of the highest order, bringing humour to even the most awkward of situations. When he played on Kevin Bartlett in the Richmond great’s 400th league game, he congratulated the balding Tiger on his milestone and presented him with a comb with its teeth cut out. In an earlier final against Geelong, he sought to pay a lost bet to Cat Stephen Lunn by pulling out a $50 note from one of his socks. “I took the $50 out and said ‘Have you got any change on you, Lunny?” Byrne recalled with a smile. “He didn’t know where to look.” The popular Magpie announced his retirement from league football at the end of the 1983 season, choosing to move down the highway to Geelong. What he hadn’t reckoned on was Hafey’s persuasive powers. His former Magpie coach was now coach of Geelong, and he somehow convinced Byrne to overturn his retirement and play one last season with the Cats in 1984. His 17 games with the Cats took his overall career tally to 219 games, with the most difficult coming against the Magpies at Victoria Park. “When I was at Geelong, I got a game against Collingwood but I was so worked up I had a fresh air shot from a standing start,” he said. “The people behind the goal square (at Victoria Park) used to call me ‘the Pope’. But when I went back with Geelong they called me a bald-headed bastard. It didn’t matter that I had played for them for five years.” Byrne’s link to Hafey shaped him as a footballer, and later as a successful coach in country leagues and in Queensland as well as stints as a regional manager of elite under 18s teams. “Tommy Hafey was terrific,” he would say. “I probably learnt more under him in a year than anywhere else. He was honest and all he wanted you to do was give your best and if you gave 100 per cent and you got a hiding he would never bag you. He was loyal and taught you to respect your teammates, your club and your family.” The same could be said for Ray Byrne.]]> https://forever.collingwoodfc.com.au/players/stan-magro/ Wed, 16 Jul 2014 12:00:50 +0000 http://forever.collingwoodfc.com.au/players/stan-magro/ But it wasn’t just his tackling. His whole approach to the game was based on a mad-dog determination that saw him win a thoroughly deserved reputation as one of the real “hard men” of the Collingwood teams of the Hafey era. Everyone who saw it remembers the shuddering hip-and-shoulder with which he ironed out Carlton’s Alex Jesaulenko in 1979 – an act that instantly made Magro a hero of the Magpie fans for life. Former skipper Ray Shaw says that was typical of what Magro brought to the table. “How could you play against someone like that? You just wouldn’t know what he might do to you,” he said. Former teammate Peter Daicos wrote in his book that: “Sometimes you weren’t sure if he had all his marbles he was so hard.” Opposition forwards must have wondered the same thing. There wasa sense of fanaticism in the way Magro approached both the game and the ball. He was not tall, only standing about 177cm (5ft 9.5in), but he had a robust, muscular frame, and legs that were especially strong. There was nothing fancy about his game, but he would let nothing, or no one, stand in his way when it came to winning possession. Ray Shaw says he has not met a more fierce competitor than the rugged West Australian. If an opponent had the ball, Magro would launch himself at him and bury him in the turf. If it was a 50-50 ball, then there were few players Collingwood would rather have had battling for it. Magro is the first to admit he was not quick (those who saw Kevin Bartlett elude and outpace him in the 1980 grand final would not argue) so he had to rely on other aspects of his game to survive in the VFL. It was here that his judgement, reading of the game, aggression and willingness to chase, tackle and harass became so vital. In the end, the fact that he was able to play nearly 100 VFL games, most of them in the back pocket on small, speedy types, shows how well he was able to counter his lack of natural pace. In other areas of the game Magro was good without being outstanding. But talk about Magro and it is always things like his competitiveness, his commitment and his aggression that come to mind. He may not have been dashing or stylish, but he was good value. Collingwood got 110% from Magro every time he went on to the field. And he was good enough to finish third in the club’s best and fairest in both his second and third seasons. Magro had always played his football the same way, even in his earliest days with junior sides in South Fremantle. He was an outstanding schoolboy footballer who twice represented his State in under-15 carnivals (the second year as captain), on each occasion winning selection in the all-Australian team. The year after the second of those carnivals he made it to senior ranks at South Fremantle, making his debut in the firsts at the age of 15. In all he played 115 games with South, mainly in the centre, was an interstate player several times and in 1975 won the Simpson Medal in WA’s game against Victoria. That performance, and his others in WA domestic football, soon brought Magro under notice in Victoria. He was approached by both Richmond and Geelong before settling on Collingwood. The Cats actually offered him more money, but Magro had always been a Magpie barracker, following the club’s fortunes via TV and the newspapers. So Magro, aged only 22, arrived at Collingwood in 1977 to join a team that had finished last the previous year. He, fellow Sandgroper Kevin Worthington, Ricky Barham and coach Tom Hafey were the only recruits of note, but the difference was remarkable. Collingwood went from being wooden-spooners in 1976 to ladder-leaders in 1977, and then three more grand finals in the four years that followed. Magro, like so many of his former teammates, attributed that success to the amazing team spirit that Hafey generated during his first few years at the club. Magro played a valuable role in that too. He was renowned for tackling his social activities with the same gusto as his footy, and he quickly became an important influence around the club and to the spirit within the playing group. Ultimately though, spirit wasn’t enough to get Collingwood over the line in the grand finals. After a 1982 season that was disastrous for the club both on and off the field, and not much better for Magro, he began to think about returning home. When the New Magpies came to power, the decision became an easy one. “I have never believed that buying a Premiership was the way to go,” he said. “I had always wanted to finish my career back home and I was tossing up whether to leave or play another year in Victoria. When the New Magpies came in it put the nail in the coffin.” Magro returned home and played with East Perth for two years, and later coached South Fremantle for four seasons. In between he took up the position as captain-coach of a WA country team, leading them to a Premiership with good mate Worthington alongside. Magro’s Collingwood career wasn’t massive – only six seasons and fewer than a hundred games. But every Magpie fan of that era remembers the hit on Jezza, and the fierce desperation he showed every time he pulled on the Collingwood jumper. They loved him for both. – Michael Roberts]]> https://forever.collingwoodfc.com.au/players/bill-picken/ Wed, 16 Jul 2014 12:00:40 +0000 http://forever.collingwoodfc.com.au/players/bill-picken/ Bill Picken must rank highly as far as his contribution to the Collingwood Football Club goes across 11 seasons and 212 games. For as good as he was in the home-and-away season, he always seemed to rise to the occasion when the stakes were at their highest. No player who endured Collingwood’s string of Grand Final losses through the late 1970s and early 1980s was entitled to feel as frustrated by the absence of a premiership medal as Picken. He was the club’s best player in two of his five Grand Finals (1979 and 1981) and among the best in two others (1977 drawn game and 1980). But there was a lot more to Picken – affectionately known as ‘Bustling Billy’ to the Magpies fans who adored him and ‘Wilbur’ to his teammates – than a footballer with an enviable finals record. For he was, after all, a dual Copeland Trophy winner, a runner-up in three further best-and-fairest counts, and a constant on the ‘Mark of the Week’ segment on World Of Sport each Sunday, with his spring-heeled skills on show from his debut game in 1974 onwards. Picken was a dashing defender, capable of turning defence into attack in an instant at a time when many back men still favoured safety first techniques. Yes, his awkward kicking style, and its lack of penetration could sometimes frustrate the fans, but they loved him all the same. And, importantly, he was a character when the game still coveted them. He often drove opponents – and more than a few of his teammates – to the point of distraction with his incessant banter on the field. One teammate told Michael Roberts in A Century of the Best, “He was a fantastic bloke and a great player, but a raving lunatic … if you tried to tell him to pick up his man he would just call out ‘I’m concussed and I don’t know what I am doing’, and keep going.” “Look out, here comes Billy” was his most favoured expression as he charged through like an unstoppable force in pursuit of, or with, the ball. His commentary was the same whether the Sherrin was in the air or on the ground, and his passion and personality endeared himself to the faithful. Picken started his football in the tiny western district town of Macarthur. He was always a youngster playing against older players, and that continued when he ran out for Heywood as a 16-year-old in 1973, winning the club’s best and fairest and finishing second in the league award. He came under Collingwood’s notice when he played in a Western Border Football League combined side against Collingwood’s under 19s side at Victoria Park that year. He won the best player honours – as a forward – and it led to his invitation to Victoria Park the following season. Picken made his debut against Carlton in round five, 1974, wearing the No.25 that would soon find itself on the backs of countless Black and White jumpers and duffle coats. He kicked two goals with his first two kicks, and dragged down what looked like being the first of his spectacular marks – a one-handed grab on the back of fellow first-gamer Graeme Robertson. But while Picken had a sense of the occasion, the umpires did not: he was deemed to have infringed on his opponent and was not paid the mark. Picken played 17 games and kicked 25 goals in his debut season. He took a remarkable specky against Richmond in round nine, in John Greening’s comeback match. Fittingly, Greening is in the foreground of the image. And he kicked a career-high six goals against Melbourne in round 17. That mark against the Tigers was among two of his favourites. The other was a brilliant ride on the back of St Kilda’s Barry Breen in round 16, 1976, and both were considered marks of the year. But there are countless others worth recalling, including his launch on the shoulders of Mark Maclure in the mud of the 1979 Grand Final. Typically, his tongue is sticking out, like a Picken trademark. Picken’s career stalled for a period in his second season, as he spent the first of 1975 in the reserves, albeit kicking 11 goals in one seconds game. But he re-established himself in the second half of that year, and this one-time forward would soon come to relish a new role in defence, holding down the centre half-back position. Incredibly, he won the reserves best and fairest in 1975, and still finished third in the Copeland Trophy. Picken soon became one of the best defenders in the game, with his passion, his courageous, straight-ahead approach and his endeavour noted within and outside the club. A look at his club laurels tell of his on-field achievements. He won the Copeland Trophy in 1978 (he lost on countback to Ray Shaw, but was later awarded a medal retrospectively) and again 1983. He was runner-up in 1977, ‘79 and ‘81, and was best finals player in 1975, ‘78, ‘79 and ‘81. He was also named at half-back in Collingwood’s Team of the Century when it was announced in 1997, holding down a half-back line with Albert Collier and Nathan Buckley. His best recognition outside the club came in 1977 when he finished third in the Brownlow Medal. Only Graham Teasdale and Kevin Bartlett finished ahead of him. Teammate Tony Shaw rated Picken among the best 10 Magpies he had seen, saying: “As all football judges say, top players perform in the presser-cooker atmosphere of finals. This is where Billy stood out. He just had a sensational record in finals.” And Shaw described him “one of the best marks I’ve ever seen. He could take them from any position – in front, running back into packs, and over the top.” In his book, A Shaw Thing, Shaw said the only negatives were Picken’s kicking and when his penchant for attack sometimes overrode the need to lock down on a player – “I always believe the one chink in his armour was that he wasn’t very defensive.” Peter Daicos called him “undoubtedly, the best finals player (at the club)” and “a superb big-occasion player who played his best football when it counted.” Picken’s ability extended to the cricket pitch as well, with the Collingwood district side, performing as always when it counted, making 88 runs in a grand final. Sadly, a pay dispute after winning the 1983 Copeland Trophy resulted in one of the club’s most popular players moving to Sydney, much to the disappointment and frustration of Collingwood fans. He played 28 games across two seasons with the Swans, but injuries began to bite for the first time. No one was unhappy when he came home to Victoria Park for the 1986 season, and, although he wore the unfamiliar No.2, he played five more senior games. Sadly, there would be no fairytale premiership end to his time at Collingwood. Two of his sons would show considerable talent, with Marcus playing 21 games with Brisbane, and Liam having a long and successful career with the Western Bulldogs. including the 2016 premiership. Liam had come under Collingwood’s attention with its then VFL affiliate Williamstown in 2008, but the Bulldogs took him as a rookie. There weren’t many characters – or players – like Billy Picken. Collingwood fans who will always remember his spectacular leaps, his dashing displays across half-back and his extraordinary finals record can attest to that. – Glenn McFarlane]]> https://forever.collingwoodfc.com.au/players/ray-shaw/ Wed, 16 Jul 2014 12:00:39 +0000 http://forever.collingwoodfc.com.au/players/ray-shaw/ Rhyce and then Heath, became significant figures in the Magpies’ on-field fortunes. As a Magpie through and through, little else could have given Ray Shaw greater satisfaction. – Michael Roberts]]> https://forever.collingwoodfc.com.au/players/phil-manassa/ Wed, 16 Jul 2014 12:00:35 +0000 http://forever.collingwoodfc.com.au/players/phil-manassa/ https://forever.collingwoodfc.com.au/players/george-bisset/ Wed, 16 Jul 2014 12:00:34 +0000 http://forever.collingwoodfc.com.au/players/george-bisset/ https://forever.collingwoodfc.com.au/players/con-britt/ Wed, 16 Jul 2014 12:00:13 +0000 http://forever.collingwoodfc.com.au/players/con-britt/ Inside Football profile in the early 1970s detailed: “When Britt and Tuddenham played together on the Collingwood half-forward line, it was often difficult picking who was who. Both have gingery hair, both are willing and both are under six foot (Tuddenham was 180cm, Britt 179cm), and, oddly enough, both are former Ballarat YCW players.” Britt’s career never reached the same heights as Tuddenham, but he still made a strong impression on Magpies’ fans, not just for his Tuddy likeness. He played 110 games, kicked 72 goals, and won plenty of admirers as a tough, no-nonsense half-forward who had an uncanny knack of finding the goals in some of Collingwood’s best teams. Then, later in his career, he would become an equally rugged back pocket player described as “the scourge of opposition forwards”, Britt was born and bred in Ballarat, growing up with five brothers and a sister on the family’s potato farm at Dunnstown. Given the name ‘Cornelius’, it was turned into ‘Con’ from an early age, and football become one of his earliest passions, with his family barracking for Essendon. He learnt his craft playing for Tuddenham’s old team, Ballarat YCW, but also managed 10 games with Golden Point in the Ballarat Football League. His local form began to attract the interest of all VFL clubs except Hawthorn and Footscray, but luckily he settled on Collingwood, at least partly because of Tuddy’s influence. Breaking into a strong Collingwood team was never going to be an easy proposition. But some good form in the seconds was enough for Britt to win a chance – as a reserve – in Round 16, 1966, even if the papers couldn’t quite manage to get his name right. Ahead of that game, the Age said of him: “Col (sic) Britt, a skilful forward flanker and wingman, was picked as the 20th man. The selection of Britt to sit on the reserves bench shows the former Golden Point player is very close to (on-field) senior selection.” Just three days after his 19th birthday, Britt sat on the bench through most of his VFL debut, before coming on in the last term for Gary Wallis, having four disposals. He had to wait until the opening round of the following season for his first full game, against Geelong, where he had 11 disposals, impressing in the No.27 jumper. It was one of 16 games he played in that 1967 season, and he kicked 15.19, entrenching himself in a team that ended up playing finals. He looked at home in the VFL almost immediately. He was fast, strong, decent overhead and had a good nose for goals. Collingwood fans particularly warmed to his aggressive attack on the ball – and his opponents, qualities that were on display in the 1967 first semi-final against Geelong. Britt kicked a goal and had 12 possessions in a five-goal loss, but made his mark in other ways that day. First he was involved in a collision with John ‘Sam’ Newman that saw the Geelong big man rushed to hospital where surgeons were forced to remove one of his kidneys (Fifty years later, Britt would apologise to Newman over the incident in a Channel Nine retrospective centred on the moment.) Then in the second quarter Britt bumped Geelong’s Denis Marshall into the fence, leaving the defender requiring four stitches. Britt was hooted by Geelong supporters each time he touched the ball thereafter, but seemed unfussed: it was just the way he played the game. And the Collingwood fans loved him for it. He consolidated his spot in the team over the next few seasons, despite a few injury-enforced absences, and set himself up for his career-best year in 1970. Britt was brilliant that season, playing 20 games and kicking a wasteful 17.32 as he made himself a central part of one of the most lethal forward lines in Magpie history. But his career stalled in 1971, managing only 10 games after suffering a depressed fracture of the cheekbone and struggling at times for form. In 1972, however, he re-emerged under new coach Neil Mann – in the back pocket. It was quite a shift for Britt. And he initially wondered if it was too late for him to try the move, and asked for a clearance to VFA club Prahran. He recalled: “I thought it was a little bit late in life trying to make it as a defender. I was dropped to the reserves and I was put in defence but really I could see no future for me at Collingwood on the backline. I was also very interested in going to Tasmanian team Latrobe, but I’d just bought a house in Bundoora and it influenced me to stay in Victoria.” Thankfully, Collingwood refused to let him leave. He nestled in besides full-back Jeff Clifton and turned himself into what Inside Football described as “one of the most accomplished back pocket players in the game.” His toughness really shone out in the last line of defence, and no resting rover relished the challenge of lining up against him. After missing the first four rounds, he reeled off 18 games in defence and would go on to win the club’s most determined award – proof of his value and his commitment to the team. It seemed as if Britt was set for a second life in the back pocket. He continued his renaissance into 1973, prompting The Football Record to say that he was on track for the best season of his career. But he did his knee against Carlton at Princes Park in Round 7, and that ended his VFL career. In 1972, Con Britt had said he’d said he would like to play VFL football until he was 35: instead, his career was over just a year later, at just 26. It was a cruel end to the career of a whole-hearted player who gave his all every time he pulled on the #27 guernsey. – Glenn McFarlane]]> https://forever.collingwoodfc.com.au/players/wayne-richardson/ Wed, 16 Jul 2014 12:00:09 +0000 http://forever.collingwoodfc.com.au/players/wayne-richardson/