Albert 'Leeta' Collier

[South of the Yarra]

A few years ago I started posting a weekly Collingwood Champion from the past. It didn't last long because I ran out of time. Thought I would give it a try this pre season and start with one I had already posted previously to get things going.

Great to keep in touch with the history of our great club. Today I will start with Albert 'Leeta' Collier

Albert Collier would be the greatest Centre Half Back ever. Jack Dyer who as we know was an avid Collingwood hater said that Collier was the toughest and most ruthless player to ever play the game. He also said that Collier was the most skilled player of his era. An era that included Reg Hickey, Gordon Coventry, Harry Collier, Syd Coventry, Hayden Bunton and Bob Pratt. The following is a quote from Jack Dyer.
'Albert Collier was one hell of a player and one hell of a man. The toughest footballer to walk the face of this earth. Albert was a GOD, a God amongst men, the most outstanding young player the game has ever seen. He won a brownlow as a teenager and mastered every facet of the game. A beautiful high mark, a thumping kick and a fine mover around the field. He was a thumping backman, a fierce competitor , a colossus as a team player and the first protector to stalk the field. I repected him more then any other player in history. Once he praised me, and that was the ultimate in my football career. I will cherish that for ever' Jack Dyer

Collier was a Brownlow medalist and played in an amazing 6 Premierships. He was part of the greatest team ever assembled that won four flags in a row and his teammates and coach the great Jock McHale all said he was the best player in that team. Simply the greatest Centre Half Back to have ever played the game.

 

[Mick39]

He left to go to Tasmania after the 1930 flag. Was the best player in the game and probably cost the club a fifth straight flag.

 

[South of the Yarra]

Spot on. He won the Leitch medal in Tassie as well. It probably cost us a few flags. Look at his record in Grand Finals
-1926 Collingwood Runner Up
-1927 Collingwood Premier
- 1928 Collingwood Premier
-1929 Collingwood Premier
-1930 Collingwood Premier
- 1931 Cananore Premier
- 1932 Cananore Runner Up
- 1933 Cananore Premier
- 1934 Collingwood Finals
-1935 Collingwood Premier
- 1936 Collingwood Premier
- 1937 Collingwood Runners Up
-1938 Collingwood Runners Up
-1939 Collingwood Runners Up


Simply unbelievable.

 

[Mick39]

He made his debut as a 15 year old. By his 101st game, he had played in 4 flags & 1 losing GF. He was 21 years old on the day of the 1930 GF, also had won a Brownlow as a 20 year old.

 

[ottoman]

Was 180cm and played CHB.
How the game has changed.

 

[dansa]

 

[Obese Arachnid]

View attachment 181095 View attachment 181097

Photo on the left is one of my all time fav Collingwood pics.

The look, the thighs & especially those clenched lumps of meat ready to club someone.

 

[left at home]

Photo on the left is one of my all time fav Collingwood pics.

The look, the thighs & especially those clenched lumps of meat ready to club someone.

the look on his face says it all

 

[South of the Yarra]

Photo on the left is one of my all time fav Collingwood pics.

The look, the thighs & especially those clenched lumps of meat ready to club someone.

Warrior Like

 

[left at home]

if you look at all the players of that time, they had the same look, utter ruthless and were. plus talent.
thats what I want our team today to be

 

[Jelly Bean]

A few years ago I started posting a weekly Collingwood Champion from the past. It didn't last long because I ran out of time. Thought I would give it a try this pre season and start with one I had already posted previously to get things going.

Great to keep in touch with the history of our great club. Today I will start with Albert 'Leeta' Collier

Albert Collier would be the greatest Centre Half Back ever. Jack Dyer who as we know was an avid Collingwood hater said that Collier was the toughest and most ruthless player to ever play the game. He also said that Collier was the most skilled player of his era. An era that included Reg Hickey, Gordon Coventry, Harry Collier, Syd Coventry, Hayden Bunton and Bob Pratt. The following is a quote from Jack Dyer.
'Albert Collier was one hell of a player and one hell of a man. The toughest footballer to walk the face of this earth. Albert was a GOD, a God amongst men, the most outstanding young player the game has ever seen. He won a brownlow as a teenager and mastered every facet of the game. A beautiful high mark, a thumping kick and a fine mover around the field. He was a thumping backman, a fierce competitor , a colossus as a team player and the first protector to stalk the field. I repected him more then any other player in history. Once he praised me, and that was the ultimate in my football career. I will cherish that for ever' Jack Dyer

Collier was a Brownlow medalist and played in an amazing 6 Premierships. He was part of the greatest team ever assembled that won four flags in a row and his teammates and coach the great Jock McHale all said he was the best player in that team. Simply the greatest Centre Half Back to have ever played the game.

An independent panel of experts didn't name him as the greatest centre half back ever in the team of the century. Was it Whitten who was named in that position? Either way, it is tough to say that he is simply the best CHB ever to play the game.

 

[South of the Yarra]

An independent panel of experts didn't name him as the greatest centre half back ever in the team of the century. Was it Whitten who was named in that position? Either way, it is tough to say that he is simply the best CHB ever to play the game.

According to those who played with him, against him, coached him and coached against him .... He was ..... And that's good enough for me.

 

[Jelly Bean]

According to those who played with him, against him, coached him and coached against him .... He was ..... And that's good enough for me.

I'm not sure if that group would have seen too many people too far beyond his era though.

 

[South of the Yarra]

I'm not sure if that group would have seen too many people too far beyond his era though.

Cmon, blokes like Jack Dyer died in 2003 and went to his grave saying Collier was the finest player to ever grace a field.

 

[Saintly Viewed]

Just a fantasitic player.
What a star.
Tough in the days of tough players.
Amazing skills for his time.

Brownlow medallist.

Even stood in front of a bulldozer to stop a tree being lopped.

Many thanks South Of the Yarra

 

[rand corp]

http://forever.collingwoodfc.com.au/a-collier-wins-brownlow/

Collier’s teammate Bruce Andrew, who had known him since his school days, said: “He won the Brownlow when he was a kid, really, and they were hard to win, because every time you got a kick, you were knocked down.”

But as hard as the game was back then, the footballer whose nickname was “Leeter” was more than up to the challenge, and he would become one of the most feared but respected players of his generation.

When he crashed through a pack during a game one day, his coach Jock McHale would exclaim: “God! Nothing could stop that.”

 

[rand corp]

The Colliers and the Coventrys were the backbone of the team and the big names, but of course it was a team full of heroes, has to be when you win 4 flags in a row and play in so many grand finals. My grandmother was an absolutely mad, go every week, Collingwood supporter, she was in her late teens during the Machine era and as a small lad she would tell all the stories and legends, all the heroic deeds and mighty wins of a team she dearly loved. I once worked out that from the end of the first world war until she was forced to stop going because she was losing her eyesight in the mid 1990's, my grandmother missed only a hand-full of games in 70 odd years. She started taking me every week once I was 4 years old.

Of course once it began to become a national game she did not travel interstate but before that she would go week in week out -Vic Park one week, away game the next. When Waverly opened it was a big deal because it was so far away, my grandfather refused to drive that far and we used to go with a friend of hers. However, in the sixties and seventies regular trips to Glenferrie Oval, Albert Park, Arden Street, Western Oval, Windy Hill, Fitzroy Street Oval, Princess Park, The G, these were exciting days for a young magpie supporter, Moorabbin was a bit of a hike and Punt Road and Brunswick Street Ovals had already been abandoned by the time I started going, but it was still suburban footy. My Grandfather once said that if you barracked for Collingwood you only shopped on the east side of Smith St. and if you barracked for Fiztroy you only ever shopped on the western side of the street.

Here is another one,

http://www.collingwoodfc.com.au/news/2013-03-20/machine-member-gets-his-day-in-the-sun

 

[Mick39]

Collier was like Luke Hodge. He had a lot of Mike Hunt in him, he was highly skilled and he was a larrikin off the field. We should get back to our roots and stop persisting with choir boy private school footballers.

 

[South of the Yarra]

Just a fantasitic player.
What a star.
Tough in the days of tough players.
Amazing skills for his time.

Brownlow medallist.

Even stood in front of a bulldozer to stop a tree being lopped.

Many thanks South Of the Yarra

Cheers mate. Appreciate that.

 

[raymond35]

An independent panel of experts didn't name him as the greatest centre half back ever in the team of the century. Was it Whitten who was named in that position? Either way, it is tough to say that he is simply the best CHB ever to play the game.

Is that the same panel that named john nicholls in the back pocket?

 

[Countrypie]

Is that the same panel that named john nicholls in the back pocket?

The same one that didn't name a Collingwood player

 

[South of the Yarra]

The same one who ignored Jock McHale as the Greatest Coach ever.

 

[WarrenWood]

Just grilled my 85 year old Collingwood-supporting uncle about Leeta, whom he saw still playing for Kyneton in the Bendigo district league (1947 ?). Leeta still wore sleeveless jumpers and my uncle reckons that the photo reproduced above by Dansa captures his physical presence beautifully. What a legend.