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/collingwoods-rising-stars/ Sun, 02 Sep 2018 07:41:14 +0000 https://forever.collingwoodfc.com.au/?p=12926 1. Saverio Rocca, Round 13, 1993 One of Collingwood’s best forwards of the 1990s, Sav Rocca‘s four goals in a losing game against West Coast prompted his nomination after his 22nd game. But his career went into overdrive the week after.  In that game – his 23rd overall – Rocca kicked a bag of 10 goals against Richmond and a fortnight after that he booted another 10 against Footscray on his way to 73 goals for the year. He never got a look in for the overall award though, with the likes of Nathan Buckley, James Hird, Shane Crawford, Glenn Archer, Scott West, Matthew Richardson, Dustin Fletcher and Mark Mercuri making it one of the strongest years on record. 2. Kent Butcher, Round 8, 1994 Twenty disposals in Collingwood’s big win over St Kilda in Kent Butcher‘s 10th game were enough to win the weekly gong. He arguably had a better game the following week, with 26 touches against North Melbourne, but the running backman would manage only another 12 games in black and white before transferring to Sydney, where he did not play a game. 3. Jon Hassall, Round 22, 1994 One of five Magpies to be forever frozen on 50 games with the club, Hassall played 23 games in his debut season with the club in 1994, leaving his Rising Star nomination until round 22. He had 18 touches in the club’s heavy loss to North Melbourne. It was his 20th AFL match and the run-with defender would win the club’s best first year player that season. He would end up playing a further 44 games with Hawthorn from 1997-99. 4. Andrew Schauble, Round 7, 1996 A consistent player in his early years at Collingwood, Andrew Schauble came under notice in his 10th game when nominated for a 14-disposal, one-goal performance in a loss to St Kilda in 1995. It would be the best statistical year of his five seasons – and 79 games – with the Magpies. After a trade to Sydney, he won the Swans’ best-and-fairest award in 2000. 5. Mal Michael, Round 18, 1997 Mal Michael was a three-time premiership player, but sadly not with Collingwood. He won his gong in only his ninth game, after a great defensive game against St Kilda in late 1997, in his debut year. He would manage only 61 games in four seasons in Black and White before his successful move to Brisbane, where he won his flags. Two of them came against Collingwood, which hurt those who fondly remembered him in the No.48 jumper. 6. Nick Davis, Round 5, 1999 Essendon staved off a fast-finishing Collingwood in the 1999 ANZAC Day clash, and while Mark Mercuri would eventually be adjudged the ANZAC Day Medal winner, Nick Davis got his own tick for a strong performance in only his fifth AFL game. Nineteen-year-old Davis had 18 touches and five inside 50s in the eight-point loss and such was his efforts that he was nominated a few days later as the Rising Star of the week. He, too, would be off to a new club after four seasons, heading to Sydney, where he would play in the 2005 flag side. 7. Paul Licuria, Round 18, 1999 After 10 games across two seasons with Sydney, Paul Licuria craved a return to Melbourne and to the club he barracked for as a kid. He got that in 1999, and after only his ninth game with his new club – and 19th overall – he received a Rising Star nomination with a 28-touch effort against West Coast – wearing the unfamiliar No.32 before switching to No.18 the following year. 8. Damien Adkins, Round 3, 2000 Magpie fans wondered if they were witnessing the birth of a new star in Damien Adkins‘ first few games in Mick Malthouse’s first season as coach. He kicked two goals on debut against Hawthorn and a further two and had 19 touches in round three against Carlton, for which the 19-year-old copped his Rising Star nomination. Injuries and inconsistent form cruelled his career and he was gone within three seasons, before being traded to West Coast for Andrew Williams. He played in the Eagles’ 2004 Elimination Final side, but missed selection in the 2005 Grand Final. 9. Josh Fraser, Round 6, 2000 Collingwood’s only No.1 draft selection, 18-year-old Josh Fraser made an instant impact, winning the Rising Star nomination for his Round 6 effort against North Melbourne. He had 17 disposals in the game, kicked a goal and played forward and shared the ruck duties with Steven McKee. 10. Ryan Lonie, Round 4, 2001 Ryan Lonie had a fine debut year for Collingwood, winning a Rising Star nomination in only his fourth game, against Richmond in 2001. He not only ended up playing 21 games in that debut season, his hard-running and long kicking even saw him poll 11 votes in the final tally won by St Kilda’s Justin Koschitzke. 11. Jason Cloke, Round 6, 2002 Collingwood’s massive 83-point win over St Kilda was good enough for Magpie fans, but it got even better on the Monday afternoon when the AFL announced Jason Cloke as the Rising Star nomination for the week after only his fifth game. The defender had 17 touches and five tackles, in a debut season which finished with a heartbreaking suspension in the preliminary final. 12. Mark McGough, Round 10, 2002 You would probably assume that Mark McGough‘s Rising Star nomination would have come from his Anzac Day dominance in only his second game. It didn’t. The 17-year-old school boy had to wait until his seventh game to get the AFL honour, after he had 16 touches against Sydney in round 10. McGough would be a comet flashing before Collingwood supporters’ eyes in only three seasons before moving briefly to St Kilda. 13. Alan Didak, Round 16, 2002 Alan Didak gave a few hints of his brilliance in his five games in 2001, but that just kept escalating in the years to come. In his second season, and in his 16th game, the skilful forward had 13 touches and kicked two goals as a sure sign this kid was going to be a star. And that performance won him a Rising Star nomination. 14. Richard Cole, Round 17, 2003 In his second season at the club, and in a one-sided game against the old enemy Carlton, Richard Cole put his name forward for a Rising Star mention when he had 17 touches and kicked a goal. Frustratingly, his four seasons at Collingwood, and his two at Essendon, did not yield what anyone would have wanted, despite the fact that he polled well in the 2004 Copeland. 15. Matthew Lokan, Round 22, 2003 An unlikely success story for Collingwood in his debut season of 2003, Matty Lokan played every game (including the Grand Final), playing across half-back, won the club’s best first year player and received the final Rising Star nomination that year. Struggled to make an impact after that, but made the most of his AFL career. 16. Guy Richards, Round 9, 2004 The ruckman enjoyed a solid 2004 season, playing 12 games, winning the club’s best first year player, and receiving a Rising Star nomination after having 15 touches, kicking a goal and having 13 hit outs against Adelaide. 17. Travis Cloke, Round 10, 2005 Six games into his AFL career, Travis Cloke won the Rising Star nod for his 15-disposal, six-mark and one-goal performance in the club’s win over Hawthorn. 18. Dale Thomas, Round 2, 2006 His first game produced a screamer and two goals; his second yielded 20 disposals and no goals but won him the Rising Star weekly prize. 19. Heath Shaw, Round 5, 2006 Heath Shaw polled 32 votes – and was third – in the overall count of 2006. He won his nomination in round five, in his 10th game, when he had 23 touches and nine rebound 50s in the clash with Port Adelaide. 20. Scott Pendlebury, Round 4, 2007 Surprisingly, Pendles didn’t get the Rising Star nomination out of nine games in his first year (2006), but he wasted little time in getting the recognition in his second. In round four – his 13th game – the star midfielder had 20 touches and kicked two goals against the Power. Pendlebury polled 37 votes, only seven votes behind the eventual winner Joel Selwood. 21. Marty Clarke, Round 13, 2007 A week after his stunning debut against Sydney, Marty Clarke won the Rising Star weekly tick in only his second game, with a three-goal 19-disposal effort against Hawthorn that had plenty of people talking about the Irishman. 22. Tyson Goldsack, Round 21, 2007 Tyson Goldsack‘s Rising Star nomination in only his 13th game for the club also produced what is still his best disposal count. He had 25 touches against the Swans, and it’s still his personal best for a game. 23. Nathan Brown, Round 10, 2008 Consistency in defence in his first 10 games proved the key to Nathan Brown‘s Rising Star nomination in a 100-point win over West Coast in his first season. 24. Jaxson Barham, Round 4, 2009 Jaxson Barham had the dream start to what would ultimately be a brief AFL career. Wearing his father Ricky’s old No.43, he had 28 touches on debut against Brisbane in round four, 2009, and won the Rising Star nomination from his first game. But not much else followed. He holds the record with St Kilda’s Brodie Atkinson for the least amount of career games for a Rising Star nominee – seven. 25. Brad Dick, Round 11, 2009 Who could ever forget Brad Dick‘s five-goal haul against Melbourne on Queen’s Birthday, 2009, in only his 11th game? But for a few other flashy moments, he never reached those same heights, held back by injuries. He would end up playing 27 games for the club before heading to West Coast where he failed to play a game. 26. Dayne Beams, Round 17, 2009 Two goals and 21 disposals in a big win over Carlton showed Collingwood fans just how good Dayne Beams would become. 27. Ben Reid, Round 12, 2010 He made steady progress during his first three years, but Ben Reid had a memorable 2010 season for many reasons, predominantly the premiership. But he also won a Rising Star nomination after his 17th game. 28. Alex Fasolo, Round 22, 2011 Nineteen disposals, two goals and a Rising Star gong – that all came for Alex Fasolo in round 22, 2011. He had kicked five goals three week earlier but it was not deemed to be his moment. The judges were never going to let that happen this time around, and he capped off a strong debut season by playing in a losing Grand Final side. 29. Ben Sinclair, Round 11, 2012 Playing his 15th AFL game, Ben Sinclair received his nomination for his three-goal effort against Melbourne in Round 11, 2012. It was a perfect Queen’s Birthday for the blond haired man in the No. 28 jumper. 30. Marley Williams, Round 18, 2013 Just five days after his 20th birthday, Marley Williams got a belated present – a weekly nomination for the Rising Star. It was after his good form in round 18, 2013, when he had 16 touches against GWS. 31. Brodie Grundy, Round 22, 2013 Brodie Grundy not only ousted Darren Jolly out of the ruck role in late 2013, he won a Rising Star shout-out for his performance in Round 22, against West Coast. But he only got one vote in the tally at the end of the season, which was won by Jaeger O’Meara (44). 32. Tom Langdon, Round 7, 2014 Tom Langdon won his Rising Star recognition in his seventh game in 2014, when he had 23 touches in Collingwood’s win over Carlton. 33. Tim Broomhead, Round 11, 2015 Twenty five disposals and a goal was enough to lift Tim Broomhead to the Rising Star nomination in round 11 this year. 34. Jordan De Goey, Round 20, 2015 Jordan De Goey got his nomination for his gutsy performance against Sydney at the SCG, when he had 18 touches and kicked a vital goal. 35. Darcy Moore, Round 19, 2016 Darcy Moore played just 34 per cent of the match against West Coast at the MCG. But it was enough for him to kick three goals and two behinds from six marks before injury ended his day. 36. Tom Phillips, Round 9, 2017 The 21-year-old collected 24 disposals, four rebounds and laid three tackles during Collingwood’s thrilling comeback win over Hawthorn. 37. Sam Murray, Round 3, 2018 Months after being traded from Sydney, Murray made his league debut against Hawthorn in round one, and by round three, courtesy of his 21 disposals, seven marks and four tackles against the Blues, found himself on the receiving end of a Rising Star nomination. 38. Jaidyn Stephenson, Round 4, 2018 At just 19 years of age, Stephenson, playing his fourth game, kicked five goals to spearhead Collingwood to its first win in South Australia since 2012. At the end of the season he would go on to become the first Collingwood player ever to win the Rising Star award, with a record count of 52 votes.]]> https://forever.collingwoodfc.com.au/nathan-buckleys-debut-in-black-and-white/ Fri, 01 Aug 2014 00:26:09 +0000 http://forever.collingwoodfc.com.au/?p=4090 March 26, 1994 Buckley played his first match in Black and White after a much-publicised move to Collingwood following a brilliant debut season with the Brisbane Bears in 1993. And while Buckley’s Magpie debut game was more a workmanlike performance than displaying the wonders that would come not too much later, it was the start of a relationship that still has at least three seasons to run. Buckley, the player, would become one of the greatest in the club’s history, stretched out across 260 games in Collingwood colours. Buckley, the coach, is still very much an unfinished product, with much promise and the certainty that he will run through until at least the end of the 2016 season. Incredibly, there have been only two years of the past 20 that Buckley has not been at Collingwood – the two seasons he spent in the media and at the AIS Academy in 2008 and ’09. Not even those former Magpie officials (chief among them, Graeme Allan) who fought so doggedly, and to the borderline of AFL rules, to secure him, could have imagined Bucks’ stay would be so long. There had been some collateral damage in the Buckley trade. Collingwood had to compile a list of 10 “untouchables” who were off limits and the rest of the playing list was effectively on the table. That meant the Magpies ended up relinquishing the popular Craig Starcevich and promising young player Troy Lehmann as well as their first draft choice for the readymade star. In hindsight, two decades on, it looks to be one of the trades of the century, even if then coach Leigh Matthews later conceded the zeal with which the club chased Buckley left a sour taste for some players. Buckley had even been heckled by Collingwood players a year earlier when he played against them in Round 12, 1993, especially from Graham Wright, Tony Francis, and, of course, Tony Shaw. “‘Wrighty’ was yelling out ‘I hate you, I hate you’,” Buckley recalled before his first game with Collingwood. “That’s part of the game. It’s business, and out on the field you’ve got no friends on the opposition side.” But the intensely driven young footballer desperately wanted to play for a traditional Victorian club. And while there were suitors aplenty armed with chequebooks ready, willing and able, many suspected it had always been Collingwood who was at the head of the negotiations. As Patrick Smith wrote on the eve of Buckley’s first game: “Distraught wooers of Nathan Buckley, their hearts broken and cheques torn up, will tell you that under the centreman’s Brisbane Bears’ jumper last season beat a heart of Black and White.” Buckley’s recruitment to Collingwood was one of the trade stories of the 1990s. After one season playing for the Bears, he was always going to head to a Victorian club in 1994. What’s more, he wanted to play for a team steeped in history, and the Magpies fitted the bill perfectly. He gave a succinct explanation of his mindset in a “Hero Poster” published in the Herald Sun on the day of his first game, against Fitzroy (who would merge with Brisbane within a handful of years). Asked by Oula, 11, from Spotswood Primary School, why he had left Brisbane, Buckley answered: “I chose to change because I was keen to play for a Victorian club with tradition.” And he gave an indication of his confidence and ambition when he answered questions from Lauren, 12, and Jamie: “Life’s a competition, and once I had the chance, I felt compelled to do it. It’s something I do well.” Buckley wasn’t worried about the pressure or the expectations that would have weighed down others, nor even the suggestion from some that he alone would put the Magpies back in the flag frame. With refreshing honesty that some saw as over-confidence, he would say: “I’ve said 100 times before that the expectations I have of me can’t be outweighed by whatever other expectations might exist. I like to win. “I’m excited with the prospect of playing for a club that has such a tradition of playing important games every week, playing in games when something is riding on it and your reputation has to be proved every time.” His former Brisbane coach Robert Walls predicted Buckley would thrive on the challenge: “He’ll love the big games; the big crowds; the MCG; the 90,000 fans; it will bring out the best in him.” The first time he wore the Collingwood No. 5 jumper wasn’t at the MCG nor were there 90,000 fans in attendance. It was Victoria Park, and 25,602 fans, including this reporter, went to cover the first chapter in Buckley’s life as a Magpie. The chapter would end on a winning note, but only after a bitter struggle against an old rival. If Buckley wanted footy tribalism, this walk down footy memory lane would be right up his alley. He had played earlier in an intra-club at Glenferrie Oval, matched up at centre-half-forward on Michael Christian. There were other non-official games – one against St Kilda in what was Nicky Winmar’s return to Victoria Park after the racial storm from a year earlier, a Foster’s Cup clash with North Melbourne (another team that desperately wooed him), and a clash against Aboriginal All-Star team in Darwin, where he had played some of his junior footy. By the time he ran out for his first official game, the fans were excited by what they had seen in the pre-season and what they could expect to see in the coming decade or so. Members of the so-called “Collingwood unofficial selection committee” – grass roots fans who went by the names of Alf, Brian, Lou, Jack, Bruno and Johnny – were clearly excited, telling one newspaper reporter that “Boom recruit Nathan Buckley’s been a fantastic get. We’re talking Brownlow Medal this year for him. Best recruit since Phil Carman, and a nice bloke with it.” Who knows if it was them, or others, who launched a Brownlow plunge on Buckley that month, backing him to win $55,000, cutting his quote from 25/1 to 14/1? He wouldn’t win the Medal, but he would more than win over Collingwood supporters and his own teammates in the coming weeks and months. Even before that first game, the Herald Sun’s Mike Sheahan forecast that Buckley and Saverio Rocca would become Collingwood’s “most lethal combination” since Barry Price and Peter McKenna in the 1960s and ’70s. Matthews would say of Buckley leading into that first game – “He is not the perfect player. He knows that…that’s what he works at all the time.” Buckley would be overshadowed by an unlikely figure in that opening game for Collingwood, kept relatively quiet by a kid called Tom Kavanagh, who was the son of Brent Crosswell, who had caused his own share of trouble for Collingwood in two Grand Finals – in 1970, for Carlton, and in 1977, for North Melbourne. Fitzroy coach Robert Shaw took the punt on Kavanagh playing on Buckley, and for at least for three quarters, it paid dividends. Collingwood had only played seven of its 1990 premiership team that day. A number of them had moved on, or been moved on, while others were nursing injury and form concerns. One of them, the ever popular James Manson, had transferred to Fitzroy and was playing his 18th game for the Lions. Manson’s unusual kicking gait sometimes proved a frustration to Magpie fans, but nowhere near as much as his 50m-plus goal (yes, it really did happen) for the Lions against Collingwood that day. It was one of the most enjoyable goals he would kick in his footy career. One of the Pies’ 1990 heroes was making a brave comeback from a debilitating illness that day. Graham Wright was playing his first game since being diagnosed late in 1993 with Guillain-Barre syndrome, which had brought about a short-term limited paralysis and a loss of 11 kilos. And on a day that reached more than 30 degrees – prompting Magpies fitness conditioner Mark McKeon to call on the AFL to institute night or twilight matches in early season games – Leigh Matthews wondered post-game whether it had been the right thing to play Wright. He said: “You shouldn’t say it, but I suppose if it’s over 25 degrees, we really shouldn’t play him.” The Fitzroy team had two future senior AFL coaches in their side that day – Paul Roos and Ross Lyon – while the Magpie team would produce Buckley and Tony Shaw as future coaches. Buckley wasn’t the only first time Magpie that day. Jon Hassall played his debut match, while Brett James, Jon Ballantyne, and Stephen Ryan, recruited from Norwood, Footscray and Richmond, also turned out in Black and White for the first time. A kid called Andrew Tranquilli was buttering up for his second game, and he would make it a memorable one, kicking a goal. It was a strangely fluctuating match of many twists and turns. Collingwood led by two points at the first change after a scrappy first term, then Fitzroy responded with seven goals in the second to lead by 14 at half time. Midway through the second term, it looked as if there would be a big upset in the offing, with the Lions leading by as much as 26 points. Then the Magpies edged into the margin, and by three-quarter-time had cut it back to a more manageable, but still difficult 14 point deficit. As the Collingwood team gathered to hear Matthews’ final speech just in front of the Ryder Stand side wing, the Collingwood crowd began to chant and urge the home side onto a special final term. Almost on cue, Buckley began to break clear of his tag, and some outstanding play from the recruit saw him kick the first goal of the final term after only one minute had elapsed. The chant got bigger, and fans were pleased to see the new boy was earning his keep. If there were two turning points, one of them came from Matthews and the other from some undisciplined play from Fitzroy forward Darren ‘Doc’ Wheildon. The first one came in the third term when the coach switched Jason McCartney from centre half-back to centre half-forward, He responded with one of his best performances in a Black and White jumper. The second was when Wheildon “flattened” James after he had taken a mark and the resulting 50m penalty saw James fire the ball off to McCartney, who kicked one of his three goals of the final term. Fitzroy didn’t throw in the towel, though. We should have expected nothing less from a team The Age described as: “a team that refuses to be bowed by defections, disasters, and dire predictions of financial destruction.” McCartney’s second goal 12 minutes into the final term finally gave the home side the lead for the first time since the eight-minute-mark of the second quarter. And then Paul Williams’ fifth goal came from a free kick and it extended the lead to nine points. But the Lions gained one back when the busy Matthew Armstrong set up Ross Lyon for a goal. But Collingwood’s most effective player, Mick McGuane, swept the ball away from the next centre bounce and McCartney outpointed Roos and kicked the sealing goal from outside 50m. The Magpies held on to win the match by 11 points, all due to a seven-goal final term that was partly inspired by Buckley’s best quarter for the match, and some brilliance from Williams and McCartney. Matthews said: “They (Fitzroy) started well and we just never quite picked them up to the very end. We were just fair today, just reasonable.” That might have summed up Nathan Buckley’s game, though it was said a lack of opportunity was as much a cause as the close checking of Kavanagh. It was a start, however, and his 18 touches and 1.3 gave those there that day a glimpses of what was to come from Buckley. And even now, 20 years on, there is still more to come from him at Collingwood. Round 1 1994 Collingwood    3.1, 6.5, 10.10, 17.12 (114) Fitzroy             2.5, 9.6, 13.6, 16.7 (103) Goals Collingwood: Williams 5, McCartney 3, Rocca 2, Ryan 2, Buckley, McGuane, Richardson, Shaw, Tranquilli Fitzroy: Armstrong 3, Boyd 2, McGregor 2, Sartori 2, Hogg, Lyon, Dunstan, Manson, Wheildon, McCarthy, Sporn Disposals Collingwood: Brown 24, McGuane 21, Buckley 18, Fraser 15, Watson 15, Williams 15 Fitzroy: Roos 27, Armstrong 26, Boyd 22, Sartori 18, McCarthy 18 Crowd: 25,602 at Victoria Park on Saturday 26 March, 1994]]>