adey115
23 Sep 2002, 12:00
From today's Melbourne Age. Sums us up nicely I think. And also sums up the rivalry....
Lions cross state borders to take on Collingwood
September 23 2002
The grand final will offer something for Queenslanders and fans who have stuck with Melbourne's original inner city rivals, writes Greg Baum.
It would be a shame if this grand final was styled as the mighty Melbourne Magpies versus the heathens from the hinterland, for that it is the most superficial level on which it will be fought. Before this is a showdown between states, it is a clash between clubs who have much in common and just enough that is different to make them grand opponents.
Collingwood and Fitzroy shared the first great rivalry in the VFL. They were working-class neighbours between whom no love was lost. Police were called to Victoria Park in 1899 when fighting broke out in the crowd after a particularly ferocious match.
Collingwood and Fitzroy played in grand finals in 1903 and 1905, and later in 1917 and 1922. Fitzroy was the Maroons then, and unrecognisable from the Brisbane club now. But there is a lineage, however contentious, and old Fitzroy folk who disown these Lions should not begrudge those who have made the leap of faith. Football is all about suspension of belief.
Brisbane's coach and Collingwood's captain each have had telling involvements in the other's club. Brisbane coach Leigh Matthews was at Collingwood for 10 years and famously coached the club to its only premiership in the past 44 years. This prompted the outspoken then president Allan McAlister to declare that the job was Matthews' forever.
Forever lasted five years, and finished amicably. Curiously, Collingwood has a history of making clean breaks with its coaches that is at odds with the bloody traditions of the game. When the time duly came for Matthews' successor, Tony Shaw, not a drop of blood was spilt, either.
In Matthews' case, the absence of rancour was an indication that both club and coach had lost their head of steam. In Shaw's case, it was an indication of the club's determination under reformist Eddie McGuire to do everything right, a resolve that is now having its due rewards.
A mutual affection remains between Matthews and Collingwood. When he coached Brisbane in the last ever game at Victoria Park in 1999, he was applauded, notwithstanding that all were glumly anticipating the sound defeat his Lions duly inflicted on the much-fallen Magpies. When it was put to Matthews in a radio interview yesterday morning that this was a great day for his club, he replied: "This is a great day for all of us." And to think that as a Hawk, Matthews once was a kind of anti-Christ to Pies' fans.
When Nathan Buckley was drafted to Brisbane from Port Adelaide in 1993, he was said to be as readymade for AFL as could be. Predictably, he left the next year, rejecting suits from 10 clubs to follow his heart to Collingwood, saying he wanted to play in finals and be part of a great tradition. North Melbourne had bid aggressively for Buckley, and North's players never missed an opportunity to force Buckley's words back down his throat as they won two premierships while the Magpies fell apart.
Swings have not yet become roundabouts, for Buckley still has played in just two finals and admitted on television yesterday morning that - at 30 and knowing too well football's vagaries - he would have to play this grand final as if it was his last as well as his first. It is all the more poignant that it is against Brisbane.
Buckley's defection from the Bears of old was seen then as a symptom of the hopelessness of trying to maintain a club on this furthest and most hostile of football frontiers. Six years later when Shane O'Bree wanted to return to Victoria, Brisbane still was pretty much powerless to stop him. But Matthews was coach now, and he drew a line in the sand. Soon, the Lions were given salary cap relief in order to keep the next O'Bree, a measure that has promoted antagonism between Victorian and interstate clubs since.
When Jarrod Molloy wanted to return to Victoria the next year, Brisbane got Mal Michael - a Queenslander - in mutually agreeable return. After last year's grand final, Michael reportedly sent a text message to Molloy thanking him for the premiership medallion, though Michael maintains that it was a prank played by someone else on his telephone. Now it is possible that if Jason Cloke is suspended, Molloy will not only play in the grand final, but on Michael. It will add to the spice.
Philosophically, this will be an intriguing grand final in so many ways. As last year, it matches a team from the frontier with a team from the heartland. It matches a club that was built from nothing with one that was rebuilt from rock bottom. It matches the best team in the competition with the best-supported.
It matches a team of champions, featuring a record six All-Australians, with a would-be champion team, featuring no All-Australians. Practically, none of this might matter, for Brisbane is also a champion team, and will begin as overwhelming favourite.
It would be too easy to misrepresent the honour at stake this week. Brisbane is playing for Queensland because it is alone there, but just as much for the Fitzroy people it has kept. And Collingwood is playing for Collingwood.
Lions cross state borders to take on Collingwood
September 23 2002
The grand final will offer something for Queenslanders and fans who have stuck with Melbourne's original inner city rivals, writes Greg Baum.
It would be a shame if this grand final was styled as the mighty Melbourne Magpies versus the heathens from the hinterland, for that it is the most superficial level on which it will be fought. Before this is a showdown between states, it is a clash between clubs who have much in common and just enough that is different to make them grand opponents.
Collingwood and Fitzroy shared the first great rivalry in the VFL. They were working-class neighbours between whom no love was lost. Police were called to Victoria Park in 1899 when fighting broke out in the crowd after a particularly ferocious match.
Collingwood and Fitzroy played in grand finals in 1903 and 1905, and later in 1917 and 1922. Fitzroy was the Maroons then, and unrecognisable from the Brisbane club now. But there is a lineage, however contentious, and old Fitzroy folk who disown these Lions should not begrudge those who have made the leap of faith. Football is all about suspension of belief.
Brisbane's coach and Collingwood's captain each have had telling involvements in the other's club. Brisbane coach Leigh Matthews was at Collingwood for 10 years and famously coached the club to its only premiership in the past 44 years. This prompted the outspoken then president Allan McAlister to declare that the job was Matthews' forever.
Forever lasted five years, and finished amicably. Curiously, Collingwood has a history of making clean breaks with its coaches that is at odds with the bloody traditions of the game. When the time duly came for Matthews' successor, Tony Shaw, not a drop of blood was spilt, either.
In Matthews' case, the absence of rancour was an indication that both club and coach had lost their head of steam. In Shaw's case, it was an indication of the club's determination under reformist Eddie McGuire to do everything right, a resolve that is now having its due rewards.
A mutual affection remains between Matthews and Collingwood. When he coached Brisbane in the last ever game at Victoria Park in 1999, he was applauded, notwithstanding that all were glumly anticipating the sound defeat his Lions duly inflicted on the much-fallen Magpies. When it was put to Matthews in a radio interview yesterday morning that this was a great day for his club, he replied: "This is a great day for all of us." And to think that as a Hawk, Matthews once was a kind of anti-Christ to Pies' fans.
When Nathan Buckley was drafted to Brisbane from Port Adelaide in 1993, he was said to be as readymade for AFL as could be. Predictably, he left the next year, rejecting suits from 10 clubs to follow his heart to Collingwood, saying he wanted to play in finals and be part of a great tradition. North Melbourne had bid aggressively for Buckley, and North's players never missed an opportunity to force Buckley's words back down his throat as they won two premierships while the Magpies fell apart.
Swings have not yet become roundabouts, for Buckley still has played in just two finals and admitted on television yesterday morning that - at 30 and knowing too well football's vagaries - he would have to play this grand final as if it was his last as well as his first. It is all the more poignant that it is against Brisbane.
Buckley's defection from the Bears of old was seen then as a symptom of the hopelessness of trying to maintain a club on this furthest and most hostile of football frontiers. Six years later when Shane O'Bree wanted to return to Victoria, Brisbane still was pretty much powerless to stop him. But Matthews was coach now, and he drew a line in the sand. Soon, the Lions were given salary cap relief in order to keep the next O'Bree, a measure that has promoted antagonism between Victorian and interstate clubs since.
When Jarrod Molloy wanted to return to Victoria the next year, Brisbane got Mal Michael - a Queenslander - in mutually agreeable return. After last year's grand final, Michael reportedly sent a text message to Molloy thanking him for the premiership medallion, though Michael maintains that it was a prank played by someone else on his telephone. Now it is possible that if Jason Cloke is suspended, Molloy will not only play in the grand final, but on Michael. It will add to the spice.
Philosophically, this will be an intriguing grand final in so many ways. As last year, it matches a team from the frontier with a team from the heartland. It matches a club that was built from nothing with one that was rebuilt from rock bottom. It matches the best team in the competition with the best-supported.
It matches a team of champions, featuring a record six All-Australians, with a would-be champion team, featuring no All-Australians. Practically, none of this might matter, for Brisbane is also a champion team, and will begin as overwhelming favourite.
It would be too easy to misrepresent the honour at stake this week. Brisbane is playing for Queensland because it is alone there, but just as much for the Fitzroy people it has kept. And Collingwood is playing for Collingwood.