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/this-is-the-game-right-here/ Tue, 31 May 2016 22:51:45 +0000 http://forever.collingwoodfc.com.au/?p=10494 By: Glenn McFarlane of the Herald Sun Alan Didak had never experienced a moment like it; even if the thought had crossed his mind since he was a kid. He had the ball about 35m out from goal with less than a minute remaining. His kick would likely determine the outcome of a match, but also whether his team could lock in a finals spot. Time was running out. It was round 20, 2006, and Collingwood trailed Port Adelaide by three points when a neat chip kick from Anthony Rocca landed in Didak’s arms. It was one of the few times he had been able to get away from his shadow, Dom Cassisi, on a night at AAMI Stadium that had more than 30,000 fans on the edge of their seats. Didak, playing his 99^th game, had the ball, but would he have the nerve to seal the deal? The scenario was simple. Kick the goal and it was almost certain that Collingwood would score a remarkable come-from-behind victory; miss it, and he would be seen to be responsible for a game that got away. This match was always going to noteworthy for a number of reasons. For Port Adelaide, it was meant to be Gavin Wanganeen’s farewell match as a player. But a knee injury brought an end earlier than he had intended. He would say: “Not being able to play that last game is disappointing … Still, I get a special moment with the fans, a chance to say goodbye to those who have been there over the 17 years.” Heritier Lumumba leaves the field with an injured leg, early in the night. Nathan Buckley wasn’t saying goodbye yet. But as fate would it, this would be the final time he would play against Port Adelaide, a franchise that had courted him unsuccessfully when it was sought to join the AFL in late 1996. He knocked them back, and stayed loyal to Collingwood, and this particular night, he was also creating a part of Black and White history. The 34-year-old skipper, in his 273^rd AFL match, was breaking a long-standing club record that stretched back to the 1934 season. On that night Buckley passed Syd Coventry‘s record of 153 games as Collingwood captain, and his match would be defined by one moment in the last quarter that kept his team in the contest when it looked over. Collingwood started well, kicking six goals to three, to lead by 19 points at the first change. Injuries to Heritier Lumumba (then known as Harry O’Brien) and Shane Wakelin were a concern though. Two of the Magpies’ opening term goals came from eighth-gamer Sean Rusling who looked unstoppable for a period of time. He would end up with three goals for the match. By halfway through the second term, the difference shot out to 33 points, after the extremely busy Ben Johnson slotted through a nice goal. But then things tightened considerably. The Power had cut the margin back to 10 points at half-time. And when the Magpies failed to score goal during the third term, things were beginning to look bleak. Port Adelaide led by seven points headed into the final term and with the support of the parochial South Australian crowd behind them, it was going to be a real challenge for the visitors. Sean Rusling kicked three goals from five scoring shots. Strangely enough, Buckley started the final term on the pine. The Herald Sun noted that he “engaging in a spirited conversation with coach Mick Malthouse as he walked from the field after the three-quarter time huddle.” Goals were hard to come in the final term. Port Adelaide couldn’t nail one, and Collingwood found it just as difficult. The Power was nine points in front with four minutes left, as the goal drought rolled on. It was left to Buckley to break the deadlock. Shifted forward, he launched on the back of Troy Chaplin and dragged down one of the best marks he had taken in his career. Heath Shaw won a team-high 33 disposals and earned two Brownlow votes for his troubles. Dennis Cometti screamed: “Buckley, what a mark by the champ.” From point blank range, he did not miss, and the game was suddenly alive. It was a skipper’s goal on the night he broke the club captaincy record. The difference was three points with less than four minutes left. Scott Burns was just as important as Buckley in the last term. He went back against the flow of play to drag in a courageous mark, but soon after missed a chance to steal the lead back, to the frustration of his coach. Stuart Dew had kicked the ball across goal. Burns intercepted, but inexplicably missed – hitting the post – from just metres out. Vision of Mick Malthouse slamming his hands on the desk in the coaches’ box, and then flinging off his head-set and leaving his seat in frustration showed just how tense the moment was. The ball ended up at the other end, with Brett Ebert having a shot at goal as the time remaining went under two minutes. His shot fell short, but Chaplin snapped a behind, with the difference now three points. This provided Collingwood one last chance with 85 seconds left. The Magpies got the quick escape and took the ball around the boundary line towards the attacking zone. A Chaplin punch pushed the ball loose to half forward, with Johnson handballing off to Rocca. A clever kick found the right target. Garry Lyon declared on Channel Nine: “This is the game right here” as Didak moved in and slotted through the match-winning goal with cool aplomb. The Magpies were in front with only 19 seconds remaining. Didak gestured to the crowd in delight, in the crowd President Eddie McGuire leapt from his seat and Malthouse almost signalled the goal from the coaches’ box. But it wasn’t the end of the drama. The centre bounce saw Burns gather the ball on the ground and shoot off an errant handball. It ended up with Brendon Lade who barrelled the ball deep into attack. The ball sailed long, but deviated late to go through for a behind. The siren sounded and the Pies had won a remarkable match by two points. James Clement arrives in the nick of time to spoil Chad Cornes. Interviewed on the ground after the game, Didak said: “My legs are about 50 kilos each as it is, and they went to about 100. Look, it was a 50-50 chance and I kicked it straight and it went through.” Malthouse was more composed in the press conference, praising Didak’s maturity. “I think it’s a testament of (the) maturity of Alan. I thought Cassisi did a terrific job (but) Alan remained disciplined,” he said “He sacrificed a lot of his own play to tie up a few of the defensive mechanisms of Port. It’s probably fitting at the end that he was able to slot one through. “Was it defining? Well, it’s put us in the eight. That’s fairly defining, isn’t it? Especially when (we) were 15th last year.” And he praised Buckley’s leadership, his mark and his late goal, saying: “I think Nathan Buckley’s mark was pretty handy, I’ll give you the tip.” Asked about his own histrionics, Malthouse could only say: “I didn’t think the clock was doing us any favours.” The jubilant Collingwood players got to re-live Didak’s goal and Malthouse’s mini-meltdown when they watched the last few minutes in a small meeting room deep beneath AAMI Stadium after the game. “When we were watching the replay in the rooms, I was thinking that in my whole football life I had never had a kick after the siren or even just before the siren to win a game,” Didak said. “This was a first for me. It’s an incredible feeling. It will be memorable for the rest of my life.” And so it remains in the minds of Collingwood supporters.]]> https://forever.collingwoodfc.com.au/a-night-of-hellos-and-goodbyes/ Wed, 11 May 2016 01:17:03 +0000 http://forever.collingwoodfc.com.au/?p=10447 By: Glenn McFarlane, Herald Sun journalist and Collingwood historian. It was a match that seemingly had everything. There was a bold beginning and a farewell of sorts. There was a 23rd birthday, a milestone of longevity and some past demons buried. There was an unusual career-best effort from a club champion, as well as a victory crafted from adversity, owing to a quartet of injuries – one of them which proved career-ending. There was even a banner held up in the Cheer Squad which may have summed up the feeling of many Collingwood fans, but caused some angst among MCG officials. It was round 10, 2006, and it is match worth revisiting. Collingwood took on its nemesis, the Brisbane Lions, that June Saturday night before a crowd of 54,280 fans. Those in attendance and those watching at home on television were in for a real treat. Let’s start with the beginning. It belonged to an 18-year-old young gun called Scott Pendlebury. Wearing the No. 16 jumper – he didn’t switch to No. 10 until 2007 – the No. 5 draft pick from Sale had his first pre-season rudely interrupted by glandular fever, but showed enough form in the VFL to be elevated for his first senior game against the Lions. And it was a beginning of great promise. Pendlebury would join the “first goal, first kick” club that night, having 11 touches, including eight contested possessions. It was a sign of what was to come in the future. Scott Pendlebury takes possession during his first senior game in round 10, 2006. The farewell centred on 29-year-old Blake Caracella, though no one knew it at the time. He was playing his 187th game – and his 27th in a Collingwood jumper – and it came against his former side, with whom he had won the 2003 premiership, against the Magpies. This would be his final match, with an incident bringing about a premature end to his successful career. He was the player to wear the No. 10 immediately before Pendlebury took it on the following year. The demons undone that night in 2006 were directly related to that 2003 Grand Final. The Magpies hadn’t beaten the Lions since the 2003 Qualifying Final, and the mental of scars of what happened in the Grand Final that followed, and in the years after, still plagued some of the Collingwood players. It was time to exorcise some of the Lions’ demons. The 23rd birthday was Nick Maxwell‘s. An incident with Jonathan Brown early in the match would provide him with the sort of gift that no one wants – a broken leg, and six weeks on the sidelines. The milestone was Mick Malthouse‘s 700th VFL-AFL game as both a player and a coach – 174 as a player for St Kilda and Richmond, and 526 as coach of Footscray, West Coast and Collingwood. More milestones were ahead. And the banner? It was held aloft by ‘Joffa’ Corfe and read: ‘P— off Brisbane”. Many Magpie fans clearly agreed with the sentiment, even if the ground’s security didn’t have the same regard for it. The unusual career-best came from Nathan Buckley, and it was interconnected with the injuries. Aged 34 and playing his 263rd game, Buckley was shifted forward to provide a target, given the numerous injuries suffered. The Magpies’ midfield maestro would produce a night to remember, kicking a career-best six goals, including his 250th in a Black and White jumper. Robert Walls, who had coached Buckley in his one season with Brisbane in 1993, predicted the Magpies would break their drought against the Lions in a column he penned in The Age on the morning of the match. Blake Caracella leaves the MCG for the last time after injuring his neck during Collingwood’s win over Brisbane. “Tonight will be the start of ‘payback time’ for Collingwood,” Walls explained. “Over the past five seasons, the Lions have felt superior to the Pies, physically and mentally. (But) it’s Collingwood’s time.” The opening to the game was as hard-fought and ferocious as the rivalry between these two teams demanded. They didn’t like one another, and it showed. The past was very much dictating what was happening in the present, and this time around Collingwood was determined to make sure they would not give an inch. When Paul Licuria mistakenly gave off a handball to Ash McGrath, and the Lion kicked the first goal, the bad blood was on show for everyone to see. Some scuffles followed and more than a few Lions mouthed off. In one passage of play, Brown crashed into Maxwell, and the Lions forward emerged with blood on his forehead. But the birthday boy fared worse. He had put his body on the line, and never flinched, even when one of the toughest players in the competition was coming at him. By quarter-time, Maxwell’s night was over. But the injuries kept coming. Dane Swan, 22 and playing his 40th game, suffered a hamstring injury. He, too, was out of the game, while Josh Fraser was also injured, but he managed to hobble back on late in the game to kick an unlikely goal. No one was prepared for what happened next. Early in the second term, Caracella’s career changed forever. Fortunately, his life didn’t, but it was a close call. The two-time premiership player went for a ball that came in short, and then appeared to lose his footing. His former teammate Tim Notting slid into him, with his hip inadvertently crashing into the Magpie’s head. As Notting swept the ball away, Caracella was unmoved. No free kick was awarded, and almost as disturbingly, the play carried on as trainers rushed to Caracella’s aid. One reporter noted: “A motionless body and a stretcher are among the two things you never want to see on a footy field.” At least with the stretcher being called, the game was temporarily halted. An eerie feeling went around the MCG, with fears as to what had happened to the likeable Magpie who just couldn’t get up. Caracella would later explain to Buckley in an exclusive interview in the Sunday Herald Sun: “I just got hit in the side of my head. Then I slowly rolled over and tried to get up.” “If you look at the video, you can see my head raised, but my arms and legs don’t do anything. That was me being paralysed for a split second. The doc asked if I could move my feet and I could just wiggle my toes a bit. Within 30-40 seconds, he asked me to move my legs and I did a bit. I got worried because I could see he was worried. “At the same time my arms were really sore. I actually said to the doc to take me through the interchange bench, but he said that wasn’t an option.” Caracella was taken immediately to hospital. He had suffered a fractured vertebra and bruising to the spinal cord. Subsequent X-rays revealed that he had a pre-existing flaw in his spine. The game was important, but Caracella’s welfare was infinitely more so. Again, there was a strange mood in the Collingwood rooms at half-time – when the Magpies led by seven points – as the seriousness of Caracella’s injury began to sink in to his teammates. Many in the crowd felt as if the Magpies’ hopes of winning ended with the limited interchanges they would have for the rest of the game. Jon Ralph explained in the Herald Sun: “Enter Buckley. Pushed forward instead of resting on the bench as he normally would, he dragged the Pies back into the game.” The Magpies kicked five goals to three in the third term, opening up the break to 21 points, and closed the game out with five more goals in the final term to secure a resilient 26-point victory. Buckley had 29 possessions. But for once it was his goal tally which was more important than the disposals. He kicked six goals for the game, his highest tally in AFL football, but the four premiership points felt better. “I’m happy to rotate through the forward line,” Buckley said after the game. “I think Mick was going to use the goal square as an opportunity to rest guys through the midfield because we didn’t have an opportunity to rotate through the bench. “When I went down there late in the third quarter it was to take that rest opportunity and it was good to get on the end of a couple of great passes. “I know what forwards mean when they talk about getting good service because that was basically what I was able to get on the end of.” Buckley won the three Brownlow Medal votes that night – the last of 34 BOGs he would awarded across a stellar career. Malthouse described the victory as “an excellent win, an absolutely terrific win, and a very, very good win under the circumstances.” “We’ve taken another step today . . . are we growing as a football team? Today I thought we grew a bit more. “I think we’d lost our third player by the five-minute mark of the second quarter, or thereabouts, and under the circumstances, I thought the boys were just terrific.” The relief of winning was satisfying, but there was relief too when it emerged that Caracella had narrowly dodged a bullet in terms of how the injury could have been infinitely more serious. A leading sports physician Peter Brukner later detailed how Caracella was “very close” to becoming permanently incapacitated – “he is a very lucky man.” Collingwood President Eddie McGuire agreed: “He’s lucky in his unluckiness, if you like. There doesn’t seem to be any permanent damage. (But) it was a close thing.” All smiles again: Blake Caracella walks to the Collingwood coaches box four weeks after sustaining his neck injury against Brisbane. Caracella retired two months after the incident, explaining: “I’ve seen a specialist … and I’m at an increased risk of doing further damage to my spinal cord and possibly being paralysed (if he played on).” “I’ve seen all the specialists and … it was guaranteed that it was too dangerous to play again, so I was obviously very disappointed.” One of the first phone calls Caracalla took in the days after the incident came from Notting. Another was from Neil Sachse, a former Footscray player, who had become a quadriplegic in a match in 1975. That put into context just how lucky he had been. Caracella said later: “The CT scan showed the arteries that go through the vertebrae . . . there are holes in the back of the vertebrae where they go through and are held in place and I actually cracked the rim of the hole. “So if that bone had gone backwards or splintered a bit and cut the artery, it was pretty much goodnight. “You can see on the scan that there is a bit of bruising in the spinal cord behind C5. I said, ‘Does that happen very much when it comes to these types of injuries?’ He said, ‘No, not really, normally there is no bruising or it snaps in half.’ Amazingly, I didn’t snap it. I have been incredibly lucky in that sense.” Fortunately, he was never going to be lost to football. Caracella became a Collingwood assistant coach (2007-2009) and has been an assistant at Geelong since 2010. And many good judges think he has what it takes to become an AFL senior coach one day.]]> https://forever.collingwoodfc.com.au/7-may-a-date-with-the-blues/ Wed, 04 May 2016 06:27:41 +0000 http://forever.collingwoodfc.com.au/?p=10434 By: Glenn McFarlane, Herald Sun journalist and Collingwood historian. On 7 May 1892, Collingwood met Carlton for the first time. But it wasn’t any old match. It was the first match in the club’s history. Between 1892 and 2015, the Magpies have taken on the Blues four times on 7 May – and each of the games proved noteworthy, for a variety of reasons. Each contributed something to the fabric of the one of the most fiercely contested rivalries in Australian sport. 1. THE FIRST MATCH, 1892 Collingwood may not have won that first encounter against Carlton in 1892, but everywhere other than the scoreboard, it was a resounding success. Less than three months after a Collingwood Town Hall forum launched Melbourne’s newest football club at a community meeting, somewhere in the vicinity of 16,000 fans flocked to Victoria Park to see the Magpies take to the field for the first time against one of the oldest VFA clubs. The match – on May 7, 1892 – was billed as “a tug of war between the old and the new” and Carlton was generous enough to donate its share of the gate takings to the new club as it was building its future. Shopkeepers on Johnston Street got their first taste of what would become a sporting phenomenon that afternoon. The Argus explained this first Collingwood team was “comprised largely of juniors, though some of the 20 had played as seniors in Victoria and Tasmania. (But) in physique they can hold their own with the heaviest of the older, senior 20.” Their captain, Joe Delahunty, did not play in that first game, due to illness, so the honour of leading the Magpies fell to George Watt. Before the clash, the club’s president, W. D. Beazley, presented the club with a flag as a memento, hoping that one day it would lead to a premiership pennant. Those new Magpie players each received a commemorative cap by a leading supporter, “Mr Vincent”. But there were still some issues to contend with for the fledgling club. For a start, the promised new grandstand was not yet completed. As a result, the inaugural Collingwood team had to change into their jumpers at the Yarra Hotel in Johnston Street, about 300 metres away from Victoria Park. Still, the venue was, according to the scribe, “all that could be desired for football … so the new club starts under very favourable conditions.” The guernsey was on display for the first official time, with one reporter noting “their colours are Black and White in diagonal stripes”. No goals came for Collingwood in that opening quarter, though there were some positive signs early for the home team. It wasn’t until the second quarter that forward Alf Toll kicked the first six-pointer in the club’s history, and it was followed by “loud cheering”, setting the template for goal celebrations for the future. The Magpies trailed at half-time. But it was only late in the game when some nerves started to show. At one stage Dick Langford was momentarily caught running in the wrong direction with the ball. But another goal did come in that last quarter when Bill Proudfoot kicked the club’s second for the game – it would be his only goal in 15 years in Black and White. Carlton won the match, by three goals to two. But The Argus noted “Collingwood, although beaten, are to be congratulated on playing a fast and fair game … they promise to be a formidable team in second flight.” But the real winner was Collingwood, the suburb. An influx of football fans showed that new entity had already gained a strong foothold in support, and there would be no turning back. The Mercury detailed: “Collingwood footballers have to be complimented on the stir that they have made and will make from Saturday to Saturday throughout the present season.” “At the opening of the match some 15,000 or 16,000 persons assembled to watch the progress of this game. Out of that number we estimate that fully 7000 persons were visitors to Collingwood from other parts. “They spent the afternoon in Collingwood and each paid their entrance fees to go (into) the ground and from the smiles that radiated the various countenances of the Johnston Street tradesmen generally, they were pleased at seeing such a large influx of persons into the city, as in all probability they left a silver coin here and there behind them that would not have chinked on the counter of a Johnston Street or Smith Street shop.” 2. CREATING FOOTBALL MAYHEM, 1977 Eighty-five years to the day since the first time these two teams met, Collingwood inflicted what was then a record 102-point defeat of Carlton on 7 May, 1977. Although that margin was later surpassed, it remains as one of the most emphatic victories over the Blues, especially for supporters with memories long enough to recall it. It was Tom Hafey‘s sixth game as Collingwood coach, and it elevated the previous year’s wooden spoon side to the top of the AFL ladder – a position it would not relinquish for the rest of the home-and-away season. There were few signs of the one-sided clash to come in what was a relatively even first term. Collingwood led by only three points at the first break in play, but a seven-goal second term set the scene for the Magpies’ dominance. Hafey’s team bettered that with nine goals in the third term and closed the game out with three goals in the final term. The Age’s Stephen Phillips said the Magpies “created football mayhem”, saying they reduced the Blues “to a fumbling shambles … bringing one era to an end and another to a most promising beginning.” Peter Moore, 20, and in his 45th game, had previously kicked 24 goals. On this day, he kicked seven for the match – the same tally as Carlton managed – including five in the third term. It could have been more as he gave off a handball to a grateful Graeme Anderson – who booted four goals himself. Max and Wayne Richardson were dominant, Len Thompson was unstoppable in the ruck and around the ground, and Phil Carman controlled centre half-forward with relative ease. Better still for the Magpies’ fans among the 64,256 fans at Waverley Park, the Blues went 62 minutes without kicking a goal – from the 11-minute-mark of the second term until the 13-minute-mark of the last quarter. Part of that was the dominant Collingwood backline. Bill Picken outpointed Robert Walls, Gerald Betts and Andrew Ireland were strong across half back, and the last line of defence included the previous year’s Copeland Trophy winner Robert Hyde, full-back Ian Cooper and first-year Magpie Kevin Worthington. Carlton coach Ian Thurgood said Collingwood had shown his team “how modern-day football is played” under Hafey. The new Magpie coach, though, was playing down the win and top spot on the ladder, insisting “the backslapping and applause is nice, but I don’t want it going to their heads. There is a long way to go.” But at least Collingwood fans could bask in the glory that night, knowing they had made their old rivals look second rate. The Carlton and Collingwood players line up for the National Anthem ahead of the Centenary Game in 1992. 3. PARTY POOPERS, 1992 It was meant to be the party of the century for Collingwood; in the end it turned out to be the hangover from hell. As part of the Magpies’ 100th birthday celebrations, a clash with Carlton was scheduled for a Thursday night at the MCG – one hundred years to the day of the first encounter between the two famous clubs. Fireworks lit up the night sky that night, but as far as Collingwood fans were concerned, the match turned out to be more like a penny bunger. The MCG’s new Great Southern Stand cheered as a motorcade of club greats went around the ground, including the likes of Bob Rose, Lou Richards, Neil Mann, Ray Gabelich and Murray Weideman. Richards wrote later: “I had a lump in my throat and a tear in my eye at the MCG. The lump came before the match when, along with all the other Collingwood and Carlton legends, I was driven around the ground in the motorcade. As for the tears they came around about three-quarter time, when I saw the writing on the wall for Collingwood.” The Magpies actually led by two points at quarter-time, but it got messy from there. The Blues were out by 11 points at half-time, then 25 points at three-quarter-time before extending it to 33 at the end. Good Old Collingwood Forever had blared from the loud speakers before the game before 83,262 fans. Sadly, We Are The Navy Blues was the theme song that reverberated around ground at the end of the match. Magpies coach Leigh Matthews lamented the 9.18 (72) score line, plus the fact that the club had had two more scoring shots than their opponents yet still soundly beaten. “They kicked goals, we kicked points. You can’t afford to keep missing shots like we did,” Matthews said. “It’s the opposition, the venue, the crowd, the four points, the centenary . . . that probably creates pressure and we didn’t perform that well. “We’ve got to handle the pressure of the occasion and kick goals when you get the shots.” Carlton captain Stephen Kernahan buried the Magpies with seven goals, yet could only manage one Brownlow Medal vote. Adrian Gleeson scored the three votes and Matthew Hogg claimed two. Peter Daicos kicked three goals for Collingwood, 18-year-old Shane Watson kicked 0.4 in his seventh game, while Scott Russell (celebrating his 22nd birthday) had a game-high 37 touches. But too much was left to too few as the Blues were able to reign on the Magpies’ parade. First-year Magpie Dale Thomas sports Collingwood’s ‘alternative socks’, something we haven’t seen before or since. 4. A SMASHING, PLUS SWANNY ON THE RISE, 2006 A special roar went out across the MCG midway through the final term of the Collingwood-Carlton match on 7 May, 2006 when a “live ladder” flashed on the giant scoreboard. The Magpies were on top. Yes, it was great to be thrashing the Blues – by 12 goals as it would turn out – but when the victory elevates you into the No.1 spot on the AFL ladder; it’s just the icing on the cake. On a day in which Collingwood wore unusual clash socks, black with a white stripe down the middle, Mick Malthouse‘s Magpies proved far too good for the Blues in James Clement‘s 200th AFL game. The game appeared to be in the balance at half-time when Carlton led by two points, off the back of a late goal from Brendan Fevola. Blues coach Denis Pagan dared to dream of a monumental upset: “I’ll tell you one bloke who thought we were right in it and a real chance.” But Collingwood kicked 16 goals to four in the second half to produce a landslide 72-point victory. It elevated Malthouse’s team to the top, even if the coach played down the significant of the moment after the game. “What relevance is it? None,” the coach said of the ladder position. “Not one bit of relevance. Round six means round six. Yes, it is better to be where we are now than where we were last year. “But at the end of the day, it doesn’t get you into the eight, it gives you a kick-start, but they don’t give you a discount.” Shane O’Bree had 31 touches for the Magpies, Brodie Holland was impressive with 28 and Paul Licuria had 27. Alan Didak top-scored for his team with three goals. Anthony Rocca kicked two goals, but was well held by Lance Whitnall, while Chris Tarrant and Nathan Buckley were solid without being spectacular. A 22-year-old enjoying his best start to a season, and playing his 36th game, was impressive. He had 24 touches, kicked two goals and had no ink on his arms. His name was Dane Swan. Swan said after the game: “I had a bit of trouble off-field a couple of years ago and Mick sort of put an ultimatum to me. I said, ‘Give me one more life’, and he just said, ‘You are on your last legs, do something about it’. “Then I realised what I have to do to become an AFL footballer, I don’t think I am there yet, but I have taken a few steps to where I want to be.” “Mick has shown some faith in me to play in the midfield and hopefully I’m repaying the faith.” The Herald Sun recorded: “Yesterday at the MCG, Swan took another significant step towards repaying his coach by being an integral part of the Collingwood midfield that smashed Carlton in the second half.” By the end of the year, Swan would finish sixth in the Copeland Trophy on his way towards winning three successive best and fairest awards in 2008-09-10. And the young Pies were building towards a flag four years on.]]>