There’s rumors but I very much doubt it as he’s currently out of contract
Im nearly sure i read he signed a one year extension. Doubt that would make a difference anyway, with young family and pretty much one afl season left wouldnt be worth going home now.
Yeah it was on the cards he’d get one but he wasn’t going to be bothering his hole playing for Portlaoise until it was. Either way, he’d be foolish to risk it. The body is creaking I’d say
https://www.zerohanger.com/irish-veteran-inks-new-cats-contract-zach-tuohy-afl-geelong-143344/
Announced last week alright.
Is James Madden still playing for Brisbane?
Still there, signed a new deal last year. Im not sure if he got much, if any, first team games this year though.
1 Like
30 years ago plus two days. In my view this was peak era Aussie Rules. The wide open spaces of the MCG and the sun beating down. The shadows lengthening in the second half. Two great traditional rivals and no bullshit about colour clashes. Traditional colours. INTENSITY. The players all wearing black boots, the umpires wearing proper white coats and hats. Classic commentary. That Bombers guernsey is ICONIC. One of the best in all of sport. Stephen Kernahan’s performance in defeat for Carlton in this was wonderful.
2 Likes
@Cheasty will you be setting your alarm for 5am to see all the razzmatazz of the pre match build up?
Who wins?
Collingwood by 14. I hope @The_brisbane_lion wins but all odds are against them. 1 win in 10 for them in MCG, only 2 interstate teams in last 15 years or have beaten an MCG home team in the GF. Lions are good enough to win, but Collingwood have been good at eeking out wins.
I’ll be up for it anyway.
1 Like
Wouldn’t be too bothered about the pre-match build up especially with a 5:30am start. I usually set my alarm for 6am and forego the first quarter but with Collingwood involved this Grand Final is a biggie, so I’'ll try and hit the hay after the Late Late and maybe be up for first bounce.
I’ve been skimming through YouTube videos of great VFL/AFL finals matches of yesteryear and looking through my copy of “Football: The Australian Way” from 1970 to whet the appetite. I may post some pictures of this book if can be arsed doing it.
I think Collingwood will win but I’ve become less sure as the week has worn on. Brisbane have beaten them twice this year and in fact their winning run stretches out to six games stretching back to 2020. The MCG should be an advantage and Collingwood will have majority support but that was the case in 2002 and 2003 as well and Brisbane won both.
Collingwood haven’t won a Grand Final in September since 1958 and haven’t won a Grand Final on the traditional date of the last Saturday in September since 1953 - their last two victories in 1990 and 2010 both came in October. They’ve had 12 goes at winning a Grand Final in September since 1958 and have won none.
1 Like
To be fair most of those teams were underdogs anyway and weren’t beaten by the MCG factor. Sydney against Footscray in 2016 probably the exception. Sydney won one against the head in 2012 when Hawthorn were expected to win.
Collingwood are to Aussie rules what Tipperary are to hurling. Come on the magpies.
1 Like
Inbred hicks? True enough
They dont do 2 in a row either, not since the 30s anyway.
They are basically the team that everyone loves to hate, they bind the sport together.
Wexford are probably some irrelevancy like north Melbourne.
2 Likes
Yeah i dont mind them too much to be honest. I know some who are mcg members and are in a queue at the moment with about 7,000 others in the hope of getting a ticket for the game, big Collingwood fans. Hopefully they get in. But that they dont win either!
1 Like
I have never been to Melbourne but have a few pals over there who are collingwood fans, the other lads despise them.
Presume most Irish are st.Kilda supporters?
Even mentioning the words “Collingwood” or “Magpies” sends shudders down the spines of many, but how did this hatred and resentment of a sports team fester into a national obsession?
Is it the Pies’ “eclectic” mix of supporters? Or is it their success from several generations ago that continues to haunt rival fans and has a legacy that continues today in the influence the club swings in AFL ranks?
Could it be ubiquitous club president Eddie McGuire? Maybe the law-brushing star Alan Didak or the tattoo-clad duo of Dane Swan and Dayne Beams?
For whatever reason, it is clear Collingwood - which has the biggest supporter base of any competition in the country - is the most hated sports team in Australia.
On Saturday, don’t be surprised if everyone bar Collingwood followers gets behind St Kilda in its quest for its first flag since 1966.
Which brings us to the question: How did the phenomenon of despising everything that is Collingwood begin?
Curtin University cultural studies expert, Professor Jon Stratton, said the success of the predominantly working-class Collingwood through the 1920s and 1930s had their rival teams up the road loudly jeering the Magpie name.
This piggy-backed onto the natural suburban warfare between the Melbourne suburbs and has carried through to this day on a national level.
“I think it’s the tradition,” he said. “They’ve been hated for a very long time, especially in Melbourne.”
"(The hatred) is something very strong that has continued from generation to generation.
I think it’s the tradition. They’ve been hated for a very long time, especially in Melbourne.
“It hasn’t happened in the last few years, it goes back (decades).”
Over the 1920s and 1930s, Collingwood captured six of its 14 premierships, while managing a few unsuccessful grand final appearances.
In total, the 'Pies have been the bridesmaid 25 times in their proud history.
“(That) kind of continual success breeds a lot of antipathy,” Professor Stratton said of Collingwood’s glory days.
Prior to the 1920s, Collingwood and Carlton both had five flags in their trophy cabinets, but the Magpies’ success in the ensuing decades would have enraged Blues fans.
“That amount of success breeds resentment,” Professor Stratton said. “It breeds antagonism.”
"Combine that with the tall-poppy syndrome: ‘Why should a working-class club like Collingwood be so bloody successful’.
"‘They shouldn’t be successful, they have no right to continue that success’.
“That produces the kind of hatred (that exists today), and it goes along with the fact that they were very successful during that period.”
Jumping forward to this decade, Professor Stratton says although Collingwood has not won a premiership since 1990 - a stat that has provided many a fan with anti-Magpie ammunition - it has still figured in finals reckoning.
From 2002 to today, the Pies have only missed out on finals twice, and they were two miserable seasons after losing successive grand finals to Brisbane.
“They have constantly finished in the top half of the ladder,” he said, while acknowledging the club missed out on finals football from 1995 to 2001 inclusive, a horrid stretch which featured the wooden spoon in 1999.
“There hasn’t been obvious success in winning grand finals, but they have been successful in a sense of being continually higher on the ladder on a consistent basis.”
Although he was reluctant to draw on the religious aspect, Professor Stratton believed another possible reason behind the sheer disdain for the 'Pies was their Catholic following.
Before multiculturalism, religious rivalries played a part in Australian sport, mainly pitting Protestants against Catholics.
“Most Collingwood fans were Catholic and Irish, and pretty much working class, so they’ve had a history of exclusion,” Professor Stratton said.
He believed the “residue” of that religious rivalry has contributed to the general dislike for the Pies today.
So what about in Western Australia, considering West Coast only entered the competition in 1987 and then Fremantle in 1995?
Professor Stratton said there were two reasons, one being the high number of Victorians who have moved to WA during the mining boom, bringing along those traditional AFL rivalries with them.
Another explanation was the Anti-Collingwood “tradition” that gradually immersed itself in local football circles post-1987.
“The antagonism to Collingwood was reproduced here after WA fans discovered what was happening in Melbourne,” Professor Stratton said.
He added there were some Eagles fans who still “feel deserted” by the departure of dual premiership-winning coach Mick Malthouse to the Magpies.
The role of Eddie “everywhere” McGuire does not help the 'Pies cause either, Professor Stratton says.
“It opens up another front,” he said. "This is a man who is highly visible, a celebrity and is everywhere on TV, and he is the president of Collingwood.
"(It’s prompted rival fans to say:) ‘Give us a break. You’re now doing the whole celebrity thing. What kind of team are you?’.
“It reinforces the kind of dislike that has been there for generations.”
But Professor Stratton says the sheer number of Collingwood fans has been the last straw for some.
“Collingwood, legendarily, has the largest supporter base of any club in the country,” he said, highlighting the envy of rival Victorian teams, particularly those that are struggling to maintain - and improve - their fan bases.
One thing’s for certain, proud and passionate as they are, Collingwood fans know it will be a case of “us against everyone else”.
And they will cop it on a national scale should their star-studded team somehow find a way to falter again on the grandest of stages.
2 Likes
St Kilda have a big Jewish support. The Tottenham Hotspur of the AFL.
Collingwood have a big Mick support.
I read before collingwood are the Irish/catholic club of choice in the city?