One Hit Wonders

Heath Shephard's debut game against St Kilda was the highpoint of his career.

Some players carve out their reputations over the course of careers that stretch for more than a decade and hundreds of games.

Others might last only a single game, or handful of games. And still others ply their trade for a few years or a modest number of games without ever leaving a major impression.

But there’s yet another category: a select group of players whose careers came to be defined by one single performance. All of them pulled on the Collingwood jumper more than once, but they’re mostly remembered for what they did in one game – almost as if that was the only game they ever played.

It might have been a sensational debut performance that was never matched thereafter, or a standout game later in a career that made us think ‘This kid’s gonna be a star’. A starring role in a crucial game during an otherwise modest career, or something controversial that overshadowed everything else the player did.

These players are the embodiment of Andy Warhol’s ’15 minutes of fame’ theory. And as fans, we all remember them with great fondness – with a bit of ‘whatever happened to him?’ thrown in for good measure.