The 1976 season was a horrible one for Magpie fans, as they had to endure not only a string of off-field controversies but also a series of poor performances that led to the Club’s first-ever wooden spoon. It was tough viewing all round.

But tough times also provide opportunities, and so it was for a number of young players who found themselves playing senior football during that most turbulent of periods.

One of those players was Lex Pritchard. He was a product of Ararat, following in the footsteps of other locals such as Barry Price and Rene Kink. After four years there he had come to Collingwood’s attention after he won the Ararat & District Football League’s best-and-fairest in 1975 playing for a club called Caledonians.

That was enough for Magpie recruiters, and Lex made his way to Victoria Park as a 21-year-old for the 1976 season. And he made quite the early impression.

He played the first game in the reserves, missed the next four, played the sixth with the reserves again and then was a surprise selection in the seniors for the Round 7 game against North Melbourne at Waverley.

Lex was a strongly built utility type – a pacy and smooth-moving left-footer who stood about six-feet tall in the old language and who could play on a flank at either end, or in the midfield. And that’s where he lined up on debut, gathering 12 kicks and 15 possessions overall from the centre position in a creditable outing.

Unfortunately he had to come off in the final quarter after straining a thigh muscle. That kept him out the following week, and would trouble him for much of the rest of 1976. In the end he managed only eight games for the year, seven in the reserves and one in the seniors. Injuries also kept him out of a likely spot in the reserves Premiership team that year.

He had better fortune with fitness in 1977, missing only two games. But the senior team was on a roll that year and it proved extremely hard to break into. Despite much more consistent form, that would eventually result in him finishing third in the reserves best-and-fairest, he only managed two more senior games, and both of those from the bench. With one of those he didn’t even make it onto the ground.

After those two seasons on Collingwood’s list, Lex was cleared to Geelong in April of 1978, but he didn’t manage a senior game at the Cattery. He later played with Berrigan in NSW, and was a part of their Premiership team in 1980.

Former teammates say Lex Pritchard was well-respected and well-liked, with a ready smile, and that Collingwood never really got to see the best of him. But he did have the unusual experience of playing in a wooden-spoon team in his first season and a table-topping team in his second, and last. If injuries hadn’t been so unkind to him in his debut season, he might just have got the opportunities he needed.

- Michael Roberts