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/collingwood-cult-figures-athas-hhrysoulakis/ Tue, 12 Jul 2016 23:44:41 +0000 http://forever.collingwoodfc.com.au/?p=10582 Lou Richards loved him; Jack Dyer wasn’t as enamoured for pronunciation reasons, but there was no doubting Athas Hrysoulakis‘ popularity with Collingwood fans during his relatively short stint at Victoria Park. Hrysoulakis had undeniable talent, even if his final tally amounted to only 19 games and 15 goals. The kid from Lalor with the cosmopolitan name that Dyer stumbled over with an almost guaranteed radio regularity, and the Greek background that Richards could relate to, had been an outstanding teenage footballer. For a time, it seemed as if he might parlay that into a highly successful league career. Hrysoulakis gave more than a few flashes of his ability as forward, kicked five goals in his 13th senior game, and he was one of 32 players to don the Black and White jumper during that remarkable 1990 season before his career at Collingwood ended prematurely. Described by the Herald Sun as an “elusive quick forward with a keen goal-sense and a fair share of skill”, he first came to notice through the club’s under-age talent squads and in elite state junior teams. In 1986, Hrysoulakis was a member of the Victorian Teal Cup side – along with a raw young ruckman called Damian Monkhorst – that won the title against Western Australia at Football Park by 125 points. His form was even good enough to see him named in the under 17s All Australian team that included the likes of future AFL players Nathan Burke, John Barnes, Glenn Lovett and Shaun Smith. That same season he played a significant role in Collingwood’s under-19s premiership side, a team that boasted future stars Gavin Brown, Monkhorst, Mick McGuane and Gavin Crosisca. On Grand Final day 1986, that young group of Magpies defeated North Melbourne, and it was seen as part of the building blocks required for the club to chase that elusive 14^th league flag. Hrysoulakis was named by the Sun newspaper as the best player in that 1986 victory, kicking two goals in the win. That sort of promise displayed, his solid work in the next preseason, and a significant injury list leading into Collingwood’s round one, 1987 season opener saw him named as one of nine fresh faces named to take on Sydney at Victoria Park. It was hardly a debut to remember, even if Hrysoulakis was one of the high points of a very bleak afternoon for the new-look Magpies. The Swans won the match by 91 points, and coach Leigh Matthews admitted post-game that there were very few positives to take out of the game, other than the debut of Hrysoulakis, and the first performance in Black and White of 19-year-old West Australian Craig Starcevich. Wearing the No. 37 jumper, Hrysoulakis had 12 touches in his first game, but managed only five in his second, against Carlton, the following week, having suffered ankle ligament damage in the loss. He wouldn’t return to the seniors until round 11 against Geelong, and in his first season, played nine matches. In keeping with the frustrating season the club had, he played in only one win from those first nine games. Hrysoulakis did not play a senior game in 1988, and for a time looked destined to leave the club. Collingwood’s eagerness to chase Tony McGuinness meant that he was linked to a trade along with Wes Fellowes and Ron McKeown for the Footscray rover. But it never eventuated. After one game early in the season, Hrysoulakis was relegated back to the reserves for much of 1989 before being afforded another chance in the round 16 clash with Hawthorn. That was the start of a string of games where he grasped the opportunities presented to him, and he locked in a forward spot late in the season. His best performance that season – indeed of his entire VFL-AFL career – came in the round 18 clash against Sydney at Victoria Park. While the Magpies went down by four points, he played a significant role, kicking five goals and having 16 possessions. Lou Richards, who had a Greek heritage courtesy of his great-grandfather, took great delight in talking Hrysoulakis up, just as his old media mate Jack Dyer was battling to pronounce his name. In the Sun News-Pictorial, Richards wrote: “Boy, is he a real find? … I love him. My great-grandfather was Greek, but his name wasn’t quite Athas Hrysoulakis. What a name, what a player. The (five) goals ‘Souvlaki’ kicked were a football gourmet’s delight.” The Age’s Patrick Smithers summed up the mood in the Victoria Park crowd when Hrysoulakis was slotting through the goals: “Halfway through the first quarter at Victoria Park on Saturday the Sherrin Stand had a new hero. Three times they cried out: ‘Athas’ as Collingwood’s skinny half-forward Athas Hrysoulakis booted his side’s first three goals.” He even regained the lead for Collingwood with a goal at the 11-minute-mark of the last quarter, even though the Swans overran the Magpies. The performance was the high point of his cult status at Victoria Park. Part of that came from his multicultural name, which resonated with many supporters, and part of it came from his livewire antics in the forward line. One former teammate described Hrysoulakis as being quick for his size (he stood at 184cm and weighed 83kg) with a light frame. But he said much of the fanfare came from his ability to bring the crowd to his feet with his strong marking abilities. He didn’t necessary ride on the back of opponents, but had a knack of sliding across the side of packs and dragging down powerful marks. Twice, he did that against the Swans, and a cult hero was born. Seated next to the great Darren Millane in Collingwood’s 1987 team photo. Teammates remembered him as being a relatively quiet player off the field, but more than capable of being vocal on the ground. Hrysoulakis kicked 13 goals in a five-week period near the end of the 1989 home and away season before being a late withdrawal for the last round with a sore knee. But the impact that he made in attack during that late stretch of games saw Matthews bring Hrysoulakis back for the 1989 Elimination Final against Melbourne at Waverley Park. And he backed up the coach’s faith, having 22 disposals and kicking a goal in a strong performance on what was a disappointing day for his team. As the Magpies built towards 1990 – off the back of two unsuccessful finals campaigns – one sports journalist said of Hrysoulakis: “If he builds up … he could snaffle one of the half-forward flanks.” Such was the belief that he was ready to take the next step that he was even rewarded with his own Scanlens Stimorol football card, No.57 of 168, in the 1990 season. But instead of consolidating his position within the team, Hrysoulakis went back to being a bit player, only called upon sporadically to fill a few gaps. There were varying reasons for this. For a start, the Magpies had built such a handy list that it was harder to get a regular game, but Hrysoulakis’ teammate Brian Taylor would later say that he didn’t work hard enough. He played two games in 1990, against Geelong (with four disposals) in round 12, and against Carlton (with no disposals) in round 15, and was never seriously considered a serious chance of breaking into the side that would ultimately break the club’s 32-year premiership hoodoo in October. But, 25 years later, the fact that he was on the playing list that season would see him honoured along with other players and staff and board members in the Magpies’ Hall of Fame. By the start of the 1991 season, Hrysoulakis was gone. The club’s football manager, Graeme Allan, said he had been delisted for “list management reasons”. Allan didn’t say it, but the Herald Sun suggested the decision came about because the Magpies were dissatisfied with “his general attitude to fitness and training.” But the 22-year-old insisted he wasn’t getting the opportunities he deserved. He would say: “I’m not disappointed, I wanted to leave the club … In a way I’m relieved.” “I’ve wanted a change for a while now. I’ve had no motivation.” Hrysoulakis joined Prahran for a period, playing under Taylor, but he was provided with an AFL lifeline in the 1991 mid-season draft, being chosen by Richmond as pick 5. He vowed: “I’ve really got no excuses now. I’ll give it everything. I’ll work on my fitness and I don’t think I’ll have any trouble fitting in.” “I was in and out of the team (Collingwood) for a while. It’s not news that I think I should have been in more often. Hopefully, I’ll be able to get a regular game and prove them wrong.” Tiger coach Kevin Bartlett said: “I remember one day he killed us in the reserves. I suppose the acid test is on him to work harder than ever before to realise that talent with our help and encouragement.” However, it was not to be, and Hrysoulakis never added to the 19 games he played at Collingwood, though he would later play with success in the Diamond Valley Football League, including topping the league goal kicking for Lalor in a premiership year in 1998. But to Collingwood fans, he will always be remembered for the promise he showed, that five-goal haul against Sydney in 1989, and the name that remains instantly recognisable to this day.]]> https://forever.collingwoodfc.com.au/collingwood-cult-figures-dannie-seow/ Wed, 27 Apr 2016 05:04:49 +0000 http://forever.collingwoodfc.com.au/?p=10418 By: Glenn McFarlane, Herald Sun journalist and Collingwood historian. When Leigh Matthews took over as Collingwood coach less than a month into the 1986 season, he promised to unveil a host of young players in the quest for that elusive 14th flag. One of the players he had in mind was a teenager from Montmorency, who had originally been recruited to the club as a 14-year-old, and who had not only undoubted talent, but also an interesting back story. His name was Dannie Seow, and he would become a firm Magpie favourite, even if his time in black and white was all too brief. Back in the mid-1980s, Australia’s cultural diversity was nothing like it is today, and Collingwood fans were attracted to Seow as much for his heritage as his capabilities in Black and White. Seow had been born in Singapore, to a father with Chinese heritage, and a mother with Scottish, Spanish and Irish family links. By the time he was five, though, he was not only growing up in Australia, but doing so as a young Collingwood supporter who wold come to have a natural affinity with the VFL football. He thought it was a joke when Magpie scouts picked him out as a teenager playing for the Montmorency Junior Football League, in the Collingwood stronghold of the Diamond Valley. But after gaining permission from his mother, he took the club up on the offer of trying out in the preseason. That meant getting the train from Montmorency Station and heading into Victoria Park, but it wasn’t long before Seow was playing in the Under 19s and the Reserves as his progression in Black and White rolled on. He made representative teams, playing Teal Cup and touring Ireland with an Australian Schoolboys’ team that included the likes of Ross Lyon, Garry Lyon, Stephen Silvagni and another young bloke named Ronnie McKeown. Seow made his VFL debut in Matthews’ fourth game as senior coach, in round seven, 1986. And while he wouldn’t be a part of that famous day four-and-a-half years later when the Colliwobbles were finally expunged, he would still be remembered fondly by Magpies fans long after he left the club. Explaining his link to the Collingwood supporters in an interview with the Coodabeen Champions in March 2016 – almost 30 years from that debut game – Seow said: “The Collingwood supporters were really great, especially because I grew up there. They were fantastic to me … after training you could be coming out the rooms and they would always be there waiting for you, to sign an autograph or tell you something.” “It is amazing how Collingwood supporters helped the team get through games to win. Just that sound coming from the Collingwood supporters really helped us back then.” His first game came against arch rivals Carlton at Victoria Park, but not even the supporters that day could get the team over the line. Seow, recruited as a forward but who turned out to be a defender, started on the bench, but came on to play on Peter Dean. Instantly, he realised the pace of the game was faster than it had been in the reserves. He had 11 touches, and former Richmond star Kevin Bartlett wrote in The Sun two days’ later: “(Michael) Gayfer, Seow and (Shane) Kerrison are holding down pressure defensive posts with enthusiastic play.” He established a firm position within the team, mainly in defence, but he showed enough flexibility to switch forward at times. In the corresponding clash with Carlton – this time in a Sunday clash at the MCG in front of 72,000 fans – he had a number of goals kicked on him by his one-time touring mate Silvagni. So Matthews shifted him forward, and Seow would end up with four goals for the game, his best return. But his season ended in round 21 when he was suspended for two weeks for striking Richmond Michael Pickering, despite a plea for mercy from chairman of selectors Ron Richards. “Dannie had been training to prepare for punching the ball away,” Richards told the VFL tribunal. “Leigh Matthews’ method is that the backman must always punch and he emphasised that.” “Dannie’s fault was that previously he was getting too far back to do it.” Seow maintained he was trying to punch the ball: “I was watching the ball … and went to punch. I looked to see if the ball was over the boundary line and then thought ‘I’ve punched him’.” Fourteen games in his debut season saw the 19-year-old win the club’s Best First Year Player, and there was great cause for optimism Seow was going to have a long and fruitful career for Collingwood. But something happened in one of the early practice games of 1987 that would change everything, even if Seow and Collingwood didn’t realise it at the time. He explained recently: “I hit heads with another guy, and I was actually told to keep playing, so I kept playing. Over the weeks after that, I thought I had flu or something like that.” “I was playing fine and then we went into the season and we played Hawthorn (in round three). I was fine until maybe 15 or 20 minutes into the first quarter. Then suddenly I had pressure on my brain, I couldn’t breathe, I was short of breath and had nausea and blurred vision. “I asked Leigh to take me off, but then I looked over and we already had two guys on the bench who couldn’t come on for the rest of the game. So I had to stay on … I was holding onto Russell Morris’ jersey.” A portrait of Dannie Seow in 2016, as shown on his website, bodyation.com Seow played only one more game in Black and White – a round 10 clash with West Coast – but he was determined to find out what was wrong with him. He told the Coodabeen Champions: “I kept playing when I shouldn’t have … I ended up getting scans myself. The CAT scans didn’t show anything, but the EEG showed I had abnormal electrolysis in the brain. “That really caused me to stop playing.” His Collingwood career was over after 18 games and before his 21st birthday. But that wasn’t the end of the Dannie Seow story. He secured a place at a school in Lynchburg, Virginia, before winning a scholarship to the University of North Carolina – four years after Michael Jordan graduated from there. Just as incredible given his head knock from the previous year, Seow became a defensive player on North Carolina’s gridiron team. But AFL football was still calling, and Melbourne drafted him as the No. 13 selection in the 1989 Pre-Season Draft. Seow played seven games for the Demons in 1989 and 1990. After his professional football career was over, he went onto acting and modelling roles, and would work in, and set up, a number of companies abroad in media, entertainment, and massage and health/wellbeing businesses. Seow lives in Washington DC, in the US. He still has a fondness for the Magpies three decades on from his brief time as a cult figure that might have lasted longer other than for that nasty head knock.]]>