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/a-final-quarter-comeback/ Wed, 03 Aug 2016 04:12:15 +0000 http://forever.collingwoodfc.com.au/?p=10621 By: Glenn McFarlane of the Herald Sun It was 23 minutes into the third quarter of Collingwood’s round four Easter Monday clash with Richmond in 1987, and more than a few frustrated Magpie fans began to make their way towards the Waverley Park exits. After three successive losses to start the season, a fourth seemed a foregone conclusion for Leigh Matthews‘ Magpies. The scoreboard showed the discrepancy; but general play seemed to make it look ever worse. And when David Palm kicked the Tigers’ 14th goal at that stage, the difference was out to 51 points. So you could hardly blame some sections of the crowd from trying to cut a break early from the ‘notorious’ car park at what was then VFL Park. Blue coats were always aplenty in the lead-up to matches at the venue, but they were almost non-existent when it came time to go home. And few thought they were going to miss much on that public holiday Monday as Collingwood’s injury-riddled, young team appeared to be headed for defeat. The Magpies had not been able to take a trick in the first month of the season as injury after injury had hampered their preparations, and allowed a host of fresh faces to be tried out of necessity than willingness. Those who came to watch the curtain-raiser at least had the chance to watch Peter Daicos make his return from a troublesome foot injury. He did well enough to suggest a senior recall sooner rather than later, saying immediately after the match: “I had 16 or 17 touches in the first half, I was reasonably happy.” Eleven of the 20 players who took the field for the VFL match against Richmond that day had played 26 games or fewer. Eight of them had played less than 10 games – interstate recruits Michael Christian, Craig Starcevich and Grantley Fielke, as well as home-grown Magpies Gavin Brown (Templestowe), Jason Croall (Bundoora), Terry Keays (St Marys), Paul Rizonico (Bundoora) and Matthew Ryan (Eltham). The powerfully-built Keays was playing his first game that day, in the No.60 jumper. His grandfather, Fred, one of 57 ANZACs to have worn the Black and White before and/or after World War One, played three games with Collingwood in 1922, joining the club after two seasons at Fitzroy. Incredibly, Terry Keays was less than two weeks out from his 17^th birthday when he ran out against the Tigers, even if he looked considerably older. Only three players in the side against the Tigers had played 100 or more games – David Cloke (253), Paul Morwood (157, but only his second in Black and White) and Denis Banks (101). And three Magpies to take the field had originally played with Richmond – Cloke, full-forward Brian Taylor and defender Michael Lockman, who started on the interchange bench before playing a big role in the game. Taylor, who had kicked a century of goals a year earlier, was playing his 88^th VFL game. But he had been soundly defeated in the opening half by first-year Richmond defender Michael Laffy, failing to register even a kick let alone a goal until midway through the third quarter. In fact, Taylor had even been dragged for a period at one stage of the second term. His frustration, and the frustration of others, boiled over in the shadows of three-quarter-time, and it would prove to be the spark that the Magpies, and their forward, needed to launch a comeback from the dead. The fight had come almost from nowhere, and the pushing, shoving and whatever else lasted almost five minutes before the umpires could restore some order. Taylor was, according to one journalist, “right in the middle of it” and with his blood pumping again, he was in the thick of the action when the play resumed. He took a strong mark to set the scene and two goals to Collingwood in the dying moments cut the difference to 39 points. No Collingwood team in history had ever trailed by as much as three-quarter-time and come back to win. Still, that wasn’t a part of the message Matthews gave his young team before the resumption in the last term. The Age’s Harvey Silver could sense a momentum shift. In his match report, he noted: “: “If a turning point had to be found, it was probably the brawl which erupted in Collingwood’s forward zone.” All of a sudden there was hope, but it was only a flicker. Those who had already left the game, and were listening on the radio on their way home, felt no compulsion to turn around and come back again. Still, Matthews spoke passionate to the Collingwood huddle, expressing a belief that a few early goals could turn what had looked like a disappointing defeat into the most unlikely of victories. But did they believe him, and believe enough in each other? That remained to be seen. But Matthews made a few changes to try and dull the Tigers’ dominance. He switched Paul Morwood onto Terry Wallace and used Shane Kerrison on Dale Weightman. And the coach knew that the fight had lifted the spirit of his team, saying later: “Sometimes it takes something like that to change the course of the game.” And Matthews’ words gained more traction when Taylor, revitalised after being in the middle of that third term stoush, kicked the opening goal of the final term to give the Magpies a sniff of what was to come. But Richmond’s Maurice Rioli pushed the margin back out to 40 points with a fine goal at the seven-minute-mark as a quick reply to Taylor’s opening major of the final term. It would, however, be their only goal for the quarter. Collingwood was on its way to kicking nine for the term, leaving those who had left early to avoid the traffic snarl cursing their impulsiveness. A few flashes of brilliance for Collingwood helped to spark the revival – a smart intercept and some strong play from Darren Millane, Lockman’s hard work in defence after coming off the interchange bench, some clever play in attack from Starcevich and Rizonico, and the powerful work of Taylor deep in the forward line. In his first year at the club, Starcevich launched a long bomb from half forward that looked for a moment as if it had been touched by Taylor in the goal square. Fortunately, the umpire said he hadn’t, and in the days before goal reviews, the six points were on the board. The margin was now back to 33. Lockman set up a chain that provided the next goal, with a clearing kick from half back finding Starcevich, who handballed off to Paul Morwood. He then ran forward and gave it off to a clear Fielke at half-forward, and he had a bounce and spotted Ryan at the top of the goal square. Ryan’s goal brought the Magpies to within 27 points. It wasn’t quite game on, but the momentum was in Collingwood’s favour at the 10-minute-mark of the final term. There was still plenty of time to spare, too. Millane was stiff not to be paid a holding the ball decision, but never gave in. He fought hard to win the ball back soon after, and his long boot into attack ended up in the arms of Taylor, who made no mistake from 50m. It was the full-forward’s 350th VFL goal, and it reduced the margin even further. Collingwood’s desperation levels were ramped up in the belief it could now win this game. One of Rizonico’s long kicks deep into attack gave Taylor the opportunity to take a spectacular mark, dragging it in at the second attempt. He kicked truly to make it a 15-point margin at the 19-minute-mark. Cloke’s aggression with David Palm in one passage of play showed just how much Collingwood meant business, although it ended in a free-kick to the Richmond player. But a crucial miss from Weightman a few moments later left the door ajar, and the Magpies were intent on barging straight through it. Lockman, in only his third game for Collingwood, played inspired football, continually running the ball out of defence. And Cloke was enormous against his old side. He took a strong mark from a Richmond kick-in, and drove it long, with Fielke roving and giving it off to Ryan on an acute angle. Ryan’s snap from an almost impossible angle produced his second goal for the quarter, cutting the margin back to nine points at the 23-minute-mark. A minute later Taylor lost his mouthguard in a passage soon after, and the ball funnelled out to Rizonico. He ducked and weaved around an opponent, and steadied himself from 45 metres and nailed the goal. Three points was the difference; there was still time left on the clock. Richmond went forward and Maurice Rioli looked as if he was a chance to get one back the other way. But two Collingwood players, Ryan and Paul Morwood, made a desperate lunge to stop him. Two things happened. Rioli was stopped, and the collision between the three players saw Ryan, fall to the ground, with blood streaming from his mouth, and his sternum injured. As the Magpies cleared the ball out of defence, Ryan remained on the turf. Croall took a strong mark and gave off to Mick Gayfer, who handballed to Jamie Turner. His kick landed in the arms of Starcevich at the other end of the ground. The West Australian missed, and the margin was two points, as Ryan was assisted from the field. The ball was up for grabs in Collingwood’s attacking zone when Graeme Atkins found space. His right foot snap brought the crowd to its feet, putting his team in front again from what had been a hopeless position. Collingwood fans danced on the Waverley seats, the Magpie players rushed to Atkins and Paul Morwood who had taken a critical mark a few moments earlier after the ball appeared destined to sweep out of the zone. The Pies were four points up at the 28-minute-mark, with only a few minutes remaining. Trevor Poole tried to rally the Tigers and sent the ball long, only to see it marked strongly by Millane. There would be no passing him in this instance. A long kick by Starcevich found a pack of players including Taylor, who read the ball superbly, and out the back, snapped around his shoulder. It was Collingwood’s ninth goal, and the sealer. And it was Taylor’s sixth goal – all of them in the second half, including four in the last term. Taylor had been, according to Silver, “possibly the worst player on the ground for almost three quarters, (but) his form epitomised the change in Collingwood.” Keays had the ball when the final siren sounded, symbolic of the fact that the Magpies’ younger players had played a strong role in the comeback victory. He booted it high in jubilation as fans stormed out onto the Waverley Park ground to greet their heroes on their way to the dugout change rooms. The Sun said: “Move over Lazarus”. And when he was introducing the replay for the ABC, who had the sole television rights that season, Tim Lane didn’t cop any flak for suggesting: “Now for the comeback almost as big as the one that prompted the day that we celebrated yesterday … Easter Sunday.” Richmond coach Tony Jewell was devastated by the result, describing the loss as “sickening”. Leigh Matthews was happy, but still mindful that 1987 – the year of the VFL expansion, which included the introduction of West Coast and Brisbane – was going to be a tough year for the young Magpies. He said: “As a team, we have a long way to go. One performance does not make the season, but at least the players will gain confidence. One terrific quarter has got us four points, and it will help club morale.” It would end up being a difficult season for Collingwood, but that 10-point victory over Richmond still sits as the club’s best last-term comeback – and a great memory for those who were out at Waverley that afternoon. Collingwood      2.4, 4.10, 7.11, 16.14 (110) Richmond          3.5,7.7, 14.8, 15.10 (100) The Herald Sun’s best Best – COLLINGWOOD: Ryan, Millane, Starcevich, Cloke, Turner, Taylor, Lockman, Atkins, Fielke Goal kickers: Taylor 6, Ryan 2, Starcevich 2, Banks 2, Atkins, Fielke, P Morwood, Rizonico]]> https://forever.collingwoodfc.com.au/the-ire-of-the-tigers/ Wed, 30 Mar 2016 05:28:58 +0000 http://forever.collingwoodfc.com.au/?p=10340 By: Glenn McFarlane, Herald Sun journalist and Collingwood historian. Jack Dyer called it “a blind, unreasoning hatred” and it’s no stretch to say that the feeling is most definitely mutual. Collingwood and Richmond do not like one another. One of the few things they have in common is the dislike for another one. It hasn’t always been that way. Collingwood initiated the motion that allowed Richmond entry into the VFL in 1908. But the defection of a Magpie star after his return from World War One drove a wedge between the two clubs – forever. There have been fierce battles on the field and almost as many off it; a frenzied poaching of players that drove both clubs almost to the point of bankruptcy in the 1980s; and even fights on the suburban streets. Collingwood’s boom recruit Adam Treloar further fuelled one of the game’s most intense rivalries over summer when he said he chose the Magpies over the Tigers because Collingwood’s playing list was closer to winning a flag. Ire for the Tigers hasn’t diminished. And here are eight reminders why: 1. DAN’S DEFECTION Collingwood had plans for a Smith Street parade for its former captain Dan Minogue on his return from war in 1919. Those plans were abandoned the moment he told them he wanted to transfer to Richmond. According to Collingwood coach Jock McHale, Minogue’s decision bordered on treachery, and the club strongly opposed the transfer. They even refused to pay out his entitlements from a retirement fund, such was the anger. Minogue was forced to stand out of football for the rest of the year as Collingwood went on to win the 1919 ‘peace’ premiership, beating Richmond in a Grand Final result that seemed fitting for Magpies’ fans. But that wasn’t the end of the story. Minogue, and Richmond, exacted their revenge a year later. He became the Tigers’ captain-coach and led his new team to victory over the Magpies in the 1920 Grand Final. Richmond president Jack Archer’s pre-game speech lashed out at Collingwood for turning Minogue’s photo to “obscurity with its face to the wall” at Victoria Park. “Is that sportsmanship?,” Archer declared as he urged the Tigers’ players to come out and knock the Magpies off their perch, which they did. It was a sweet victory for Minogue and a painful loss for Collingwood. A bitter rivalry had been born. 2. ROCKIN’ THE SUBURBS Collingwood defeated Richmond in three successive Grand Finals (1927-29), but even through that time the Tigers still managed to get under the Magpies’ skin. On the eve of one of those Grand Finals local police were called out to break-up groups of supporters of both sides engaged in a brawl. History, or local police records, fails to recall which team’s fans won the fight. One thing that Pies fans of the 1920s would never forget was the manner in which Richmond “beat up” on Collingwood in one final in 1929. The Magpies had been unbeatable that season, and looked certain to become the first team to go through a VFL season undefeated. But Richmond coach ‘Checker’ Hughes had other ideas. Before that semi-final he told his players: “Give them all you have got, and they will crack.” From the outset, two of the Magpies’ most influential players, Syd Coventry and George Clayden, were flattened in “a reprehensible spirit that marred play all day,” according to one journalist. One Magpie player, watching from the outer, said Richmond “tried to take out the Coventrys and Colliers”, and in doing so, was able to end Collingwood’s winning streak, with a bruising 62-point thrashing. The loss deeply affected some fans, with the Herald saying: “several (female supporters) the ground sobbing … the male escort of one sobbing sister clumsily tried to console her … she turned on him like a tiger cat, and, as she stamped her feet on the footpath, shrieked: ‘We didn’t come here to see Richmond play, but to see Collingwood win.'” Battered and bruised, the Magpies got one back on the Tigers a fortnight later, scoring a hat-trick of Grand Final wins. Paul Licuria introduces himself to Wayne Campbell in round 16, 2002. 3. MEDAL MUDDLE Three VFL players tied for the sixth Brownlow Medal, including Collingwood young gun Harry Collier, in 1930. He had tied with Richmond’s Stan Judkins and Footscray’s Allan Hopkins, but Collier was unlucky not to have won the award outright, as one vote had been allocated to ‘Collier’ without referencing whether it was for Harry or his brother Albert. When pressed for more information later, the umpire said it was meant for “the little rover fella” (Harry). But the vote was deemed invalid. The VFL initially announced there would be no winner. Enter Richmond’s VFL delegate, H. L. Roberts, who claimed the rules stated that “the player attaining the largest percentage of votes to games played (was) to receive the medal.” That was Judkins, who had actually been dropped from the Tigers’ team during that 1930 season. The league then announced Judkins as the winner, to the disgust of Collier, and Collingwood. They felt an injustice had been done and it would take almost 60 years for that to be undone. Always frustrated by Richmond’s intervention, Collier fought for years for retrospective medals to be struck for him, Hopkins, and other tied winners who missed out. “Not meaning anything against Judkins, but comparing him to Hopkins and myself was ridiculous,” a candid Collier said late in his life. He finally got his rewards, a retrospective Brownlow Medal, in 1989. Harry Collier played 253 games in a Black and White jumper. 4. BOILING POINT Tensions between Collingwood and Richmond reached boiling point in 1936 when a clash between genial goalkicker Gordon Coventry and Richmond defender Joe Murdoch drove another wedge between the two clubs. Uncharacteristically, Coventry threw a punch at Murdoch. He was reported, chose not to reveal the reason for his retaliation and was cruelly suspended for eight weeks – for his first offence. When the penalty was projected on the screens at the local Collingwood picture theatres, there were chants of disapproval from Magpie supporters. The ban ruled Coventry out for the rest of the season, and not even some alleged post-game offers of inducements to Murdoch from John Wren or his associates could change the Tiger defender’s story. “It nearly provoked a suburban war,” one Collingwood administrator said. “Wren was furious … (Jock) McHale thought it was a set-up. (But) he (Coventry) didn’t believe in squealing.” Coventry had boils on the back of his neck, which Murdoch was said to have targeted. The administrator said: “Murdoch knew he had the boils. They belted him until he exploded, and he got eight weeks – for retaliating.” Collingwood won the Grand Final that season, but had to do so without a shattered Coventry. The dislike of Richmond rolled on. 5. IN THE NAME OF THE FATHER Jack Dyer hated Collingwood, and he saw the embodiment of the club as its coach Jock McHale. He wished he could have played against McHale, and knocked his block off. But the biggest name in Collingwood’s history had long since retired when Dyer terrorised the suburban ovals of Melbourne. But when McHale’s son, John, known as Jock Jr., came on the scene as a player during the 1940s, it gave Dyer his chance to upset the Collingwood coach, and to further infuriate the Magpie faithful in a game in 1944. He would explain years later: “”My dream, and I dreamed it often, was to crush McHale. But it was an impossible dream. Then lo and behold!! One day Jock McHale did line up on me … in a Collingwood jumper and for four premiership points. At last … So it wasn’t the old boy … so what? It was the fruit of his loins.” It would be the only time in Dyer’s career he would be suspended – for four weeks. But young Jock Jr., perhaps emboldened by having a few drinks at a wedding he had attended earlier in the day, gave back as good as he got. He threw a punch back at the Richmond strongman and copped four weeks as well. He probably figured it was worth it. 6. HART ACHE The Magpies appeared well placed to finally shrug off those dreaded ‘Colliwobbles’ in 1973 when the club finished on top of the ladder. But a loss to Carlton in the second semi-final dented the confidence and it meant Collingwood had to meet Richmond in a sudden-death Preliminary Final to advance to the Grand Final. That looked a near certainty at half-time when the Magpies led by six goals, and with Richmond’s most damaging player, Royce Hart, sitting on the bench as the 19th man, under a serious fitness cloud. At one stage during the second term the difference had even bloated out to 45 points. The Tigers figured Hart could not play in the Preliminary Final and the Grand Final a week later due to knee issues, but club powerbroker Graeme Richmond insisted there would be no next week if Hart didn’t come on. So the Tigers introduced him and he kicked a team-lifting goal early in the third term as the Tigers booted six goals to two for the quarter. It was a sign of things to come as they overcame Collingwood to win by seven points. Collingwood had been unceremoniously dumped from the finals in straight sets with coach Neil Mann saying: “Once again we walk away from the MCG disappointed.” Hart had inspired his team; and Richmond fans wouldn’t let Collingwood supporters forget it. 7. THE FLOGGING Collingwood was never expected to defeat Richmond in the 1980 Grand Final, having risen from fifth position at the end of the home-and-away season on the back of some old-fashioned grit and Tom Hafey magic. But no one expected the nature of the loss. It would be a then record Grand Final defeat of 81 points, a humiliation of epic proportions. Six goals to two in the first term set the tone for the Tigers and a 43-point margin was in place at half-time. Kevin Bartlett was dominant with seven goals, David Cloke kicked six, and Collingwood’s seventh loss in a Grand Final since 1958 was a fait accompli early in the third term as a host of frustrated supporters left the MCG. It was the sixth straight loss that Collingwood had suffered at the hands of Richmond in a final since 1969. Deflated Magpie fans wished the Tigers had the same sort of curse on them as Collingwood seemed to have, and so many years on, Richmond hasn’t won another flag. 8. POACHING WARS The enmity between Collingwood and Richmond had a Cold War feel to it in the 1980s. It wasn’t quite the USA versus USSR – no one fortunately had fingers on the red button – but the hatred was as intense as it could be. A poaching war in the early 1980s pushed both clubs almost to the point of distraction and financial ruin. Collingwood fixed its sights on David Cloke, who had just turned 28, heading into 1983, and while Richmond resisted, the VFL Appeals Board granted the big man a pathway to Vic Park. But it turned to full-scale war when Geoff Raines sought a release to join the Magpies after a contract standoff. There were legal jabs and a showdown between the two clubs, but Raines was granted leave for Collingwood. The Magpies beat the Tigers twice that season. On one of those occasions the club’s banner provocatively read: “Out in the Woods, without a Cloke, and it Raines”. But Richmond – the club and its football administrator Graeme Richmond – plotted revenge. They made a play for one of Collingwood’s favourite sons, Peter Daicos, and for a time the star Magpie gave it plenty of consideration before rejecting it. But Phillip Walsh, Collingwood’s best first year player in 1983, was poached from under Collingwood’s nose. It was said Richmond “bluntly told the football world that cost was no obstacle” and Walsh and later Jon Annear were prepared to head to the Federal Court before ending up at Punt Road. The Magpies hit back again in 1985 when it managed to secure Tigers forward Brian Taylor, who would eventually go onto kick a century of goals a year later. But for all the changes, what hurt the most was the financial bottom line. It was just another sign that these two great clubs –and their supporters – don’t like one another, and that hasn’t changed to this day. David Cloke was at the centre of the poaching wars between Collingwood and Richmond during the 1980s.]]>