Congrat's Presti

[rotten pie]

Congratulations to Presti on his 200th game for the Black&White. While i haven't always been your biggest supporter, especially early in your career, it always makes me feel better when your name is listed in the team. So well done Presti, and here's hoping your around for at least another 50 games.

 

[Mrs Meddles]

On ya Presti.

 

[mattys123]

Congratulations Simon Prestigiacomo, on 200 hard fought, sensational games for your beloved Collingwood Football Club. Fitting that he ticks over to the magical 200 on ANZAC day, a day that remembers it's not what you did for yourslef, but what you did for your mates, your family and your country.

The true test of a footballer is not how many flags he wins, not how many medals he wins, not even how many games he plays, it is that they get the absolute maximum out of their own ability, and help their team no matter what the situation presents.

Presti is a true great, simply the greatest Full Back or even defensive player I have seen wear the Black and White jumper.

Presti throughout his whole career has never had a game where he didnt try 100%, never had a game where he didnt get he most out of his body, and has rarely been beaten one on one.

Congratulations Simon Prestigiacomo, one of the true greats of the Collingwood Football Club, and now a life member.

 

[Snag Breac]

I hadn't really seen Presti play until this year. Now I understand what you were all on about. He's a quiet champion. Enjoy the moment, Presti.

 

[pied_piper]

Congrats Presti one of the true champions of the Collingwood Football Club has made the 35 his own. Which was no mean feet.

 

[collingwood1992]

Yea well done presti on 200 awesome games

 

[Gymnorhina tibic]

Congrats champ, for years he has been the first picked but after his injury I was one who thought the game had passed his type by. After last week I gladly say I was wrong, a true club man.

 

[bushpie]

Well Done Presti

Its been a long time coming and you deserve the accolades.

Have a great day ​

 

[Rohan25]

Great work Presti! I'm looking forward to seeing you carried off the ground after a big win tomorrow.

 

[yazdo]

Presti (or as I refer to him "RICHO KILLER") is by far my favourite player at CFC. Congrats & all the best. Total champion and a great bloke.

 

[Snag Breac]

Plenty of great coverage of Presti today.....

Presti's actions speak louder than words

Martin Boulton | April 25, 2009

BRISBANE Lions star Jonathan Brown said last week Collingwood's Simon Prestigiacomo had never uttered a word to him on a football ground in close to a decade.
A few days later, the Magpies veteran lined up on Brown's teammate, Daniel Bradshaw, when the two sides met at the Gabba, but after Brown kicked two quick goals it was "Presti" who quietened him down.
The veteran defender, who plays his 200th game in today's traditional Anzac Day fixture, kept Bradshaw to one disposal in the opening term before switching to the Lions skipper.
After the home side had jumped out to a 22-point lead, Brown's dominance was quelled in the second term by Prestigiacomo and the burly forward added just four behinds in the second half.
In a 17-point win, Presti finished with 11 disposals in a typically tough, unfashionable stopping job.
Nathan Buckley described his former teammate's contribution that night as "invaluable" and said when he's "fit and firing", Prestigiacomo was among the first players picked.
"Because he's one of the first guys picked, it leaves a massive hole in the side (when he's unavailable) because you've got to find someone to play that shutdown role," Buckley said.
Last year, Harry O'Brien and Nathan Brown both spent time in the shutdown role while Presti spent a frustrating season on the sidelines with foot and groin injuries.
He returned for the round 22 game against Fremantle, played in the first elimination final against Adelaide, but injured his shoulder and missed the semi-final against St Kilda.
Buckley said Collingwood "did very well last year to get to the finals" without Presti anchoring the backline.
"You can whack him in at full-back and build your side around him," he said.
"He hasn't got the offensive drive that (Geelong's) Matthew Scarlett has or (Essendon's) Dustin Fletcher, but he's got their ability to negate, he follows up, uses his body well and chooses very safe targets.
"To stop a key forward and stop the opposition's major avenue to scoring has definitely been Mick's (coach Michael Malthouse) primary focus and Presti fills that role very well."
In a time when players are often judged on statistics, the former first-round draft pick's value to Collingwood's back six rarely shows up in kicks (four last week) or handballs (seven).
Originally recruited as a forward, the last of his three career goals came way back in 2002 against arch-rival Carlton, but Malthouse this week summed up his defender's greatest asset to the team.

"You set him a task and he does it," the veteran coach said.
Buckley, too, said he always trusted Presti to play his role.
"I just had tremendous respect for what he did," he said. "Trust is a big thing at a footy club, and when you can trust someone to play their role, whether he's hurting a bit physically or he's had a bad 10 minutes, he never let that worry him.
"He'd always give his absolute best at the next contest and, as a teammate, you just love the bloke for that — he never gave anything other than his best effort."
It wasn't always this way for Presti, who in Malthouse's eyes was tainted by a handful of early games, including a bag of seven goals kicked by former West Coast forward Scott Cummings.
Malthouse, who joined Collingwood after 10 years coaching the Eagles, said he was "uncertain" about the skinny youngster from Research holding down a key defensive job.
"Players that I'd coached who played on him, (Peter) Sumich, certainly Scott Cummings, they had a piece of him," Malthouse said.
"My opinion of Simon was based on those games and I thought when I first arrived here that we needed to seriously consider another full-back."
Soon after taking the reins at Collingwood, Malthouse overlooked Prestigiacomo for a pre-season game.
"My pick played on a young bloke playing one of his first games and I think he set a world record for the number of goals kicked in a (pre-season) series, (Carlton's) Brendan Fevola.
"That's how far I was off and these are the lessons in life.
"Simon Prestigiacomo came back into the side and I had a greater appreciation of what Simon does and how he goes about his work."
In the 10th year of their relationship, which has included two grand finals, Malthouse said the 31-year-old was "fantastic to have around the football club" and felt privileged to share his milestone.
"He's an absolute marvel," the coach said.
"It (200 games) is a testament to his durability and loyalty to his football club."
On the eve of today's game, which draws him level with Buckley's nine Anzac Day appearances, Presti said he never imagined playing 200 games for the club.
"I'm definitely pretty proud of what I've achieved … hopefully there's a few more left in the legs," he said.
At the first bounce today, he'll be standing next to Bombers forward Matthew Lloyd or Scott Lucas.
"I normally get Lloydy or Lucas. I've had some pretty good battles … hopefully I've had it over them a couple of times," he said.
"It's definitely good to be back. I had a bit of a rough time last year and it's good to be back playing some regular footy."

Collingwood's Mr Reliable, defender Simon Prestigiacomo, will play his 200th game today.
Photo: Sebastian Costanzo

The ghost who talks

Scott Gullan | April 25, 2009 12:00am
THE president is prowling the corridors of the Lexus Centre. As usual, he seems to have a hundred things on the go.

But once Eddie McGuire hears the name Simon Prestigiacomo, he immediately stops for a chat.
"Good luck," he said with a laugh when informed that an interview with the full-back about his 200th game is the reason for the visit.
"He has now played more games than words spoken."
There are gags aplenty when it comes to Prestigiacomo and his lack of vocal offerings, but the enormous amount of respect his name carries at Collingwood soon becomes apparent.
"He has carried around one of the great numbers of this club, the No. 35 of Peter Daicos. He is the antithesis of Daicos, but don't underestimate his service to this club," McGuire said.
"He is unsung and more than just serviceable - his service to this club is right up there."



Before he leaves, the president offers some advice: "Make sure you talk to his wife, she's a comedian (compared to him) - chalk and cheese."
When the time comes, the man Mick Malthouse calls Humphrey Bear is waiting in a small office by himself.
He seems bigger in person than on the field, with his 193cm, 95kg frame looking slightly uncomfortable squashed under the desk.
He smiles when informed about the presidential orders to talk to Belinda, his wife of almost eight years. "She'll be happy with that because she always says, 'Eddie loves me'."
The cliche "Don't judge a book by its cover" may apply to Prestigiacomo, who says he doesn't mind doing interviews, it's just that no one ever asks.
"It doesn't worry me overly, but I guess I have been given this persona that I don't like it, so no one asks me," he said.
"So I just sneak under the radar. I have always been reasonably quiet, but family and friends will tell you I am probably a little bit different. They will say after a couple of beers I am a bit rowdy."
The words "quirky" and "mischievous" have already been used to describe Prestigiacomo by more than one insider at Collingwood, and the mail is he's one of the main pranksters in the locker room.
"It is probably that front that allows me to get away with things because no one ever suspects me if I do anything," he said with a hint of pride.
"Normally if I am in cahoots with someone, if I am trying to stitch up Josh Fraser or something and it's 'Obie' (Shane O'Bree) and me or I'm with Nick Maxwell, they will cop the blame because they always do things like that.
"Scott Burns used to get away with it, but then everyone wised up that it was him. He used to sneak under the radar like me and no one used to suspect until towards the end everyone realised it was him every time."
A phone call to his former teammate Shane Wakelin later in the day - which starts with him saying, "You got five words out of him, did you?' - confirms the split personality.
"Especially once he has had a few beers he is a bit of a pest and we call him Peter Hore after that serial pest," Wakelin said.

"He is always the last one who people would assume has been playing any tricks because his locker is hidden away in the corner and is very unassuming and inconspicuous, so no one suggests he has done anything.
"I have never pinned him for a few things that he did to me, but I'm pretty sure it was him."
Another of his nicknames is "The Phantom".
"He is the ghost who walks," Wakelin said. "Because he is just that quiet he floats through and you wouldn't even know he has walked past."
Brisbane Lions superstar Jonathan Brown can relate to that and wrote about it in his newspaper column before last week's clash with the Magpies.
"Other than last year, when 'Presti' was injured, I reckon I've played on him every time we've met, and not once has he said a word to me," Brown said.
After the Magpies' victory, Prestigiacomo gave a rare TV interview on the ground. When questioned about Brown's comments, he said he liked to keep people guessing about what sort of a person he was.
"I don't really start too many conversations," he explains as teammates bang on the window, trying to get a reaction from the full-back.
"If someone says something to me, I'll say a word back and that sort of thing, but generally I'm just focused on what I need to do."
That focus on stopping his man has got him a long way and is also at the centre of some ribbing from his younger teammates, who ban him from taking possession of the ball.
"The only thing midfield star Dale Thomas ever says to Prestigiacomo is: "See ball, punch ball."
His relationship with fellow defender Heath Shaw also draws many laughs.

They are polar opposites, with the hyperactive Shaw regularly seen blowing his stack at his full-back, which invariably draws the same response: "Yes, Heath."
Mark Neeld, the Magpies defensive coach, hears more come out of Prestigiacomo's mouth than most.
"The young ones at the club wouldn't know what to make of him," Neeld said.
"Someone like Dayne Beams wouldn't know who Simon Prestigiacomo was, but in the backline meetings he is very good, he is very good at instructing the others.
"If anyone gets into him, it is water off a duck's back.
"Whether it be Mick (Malthouse), whether it is me, the other players, the opposition, the crowd, the media . . . if anyone gives him anything, he just goes, 'Yeah, how you going? Have a nice day', and just moves on to the next thing."
Neeld describes the 31-year-old as "super important", and the assistant coach saw just how hard life was without him last year.
"He helps us get games into, and to protect, Nathan Brown, because we couldn't protect him last year," Neeld said.
"He had to take them all last year, all the superstars because Presti wasn't there."
Prestigiacomo admits he began to wonder whether he would get out of the 190s, having been stuck there for a couple of years.

He missed the end of the 2007 season and then managed only two games last year because of a serious foot injury.
He tore his plantar fascia in Round 6 of 2007 and the problem hampered him for the rest of the season, eventually forcing him to the sidelines.
"I had what Robert Harvey had, but mine didn't snap properly and that was the problem, so I had an operation at the end of '07," he said.
"When I came back it was still causing problems, so I had to have another operation the week before Round 1 in '08 and that pretty much stuffed my year.
"I came back in Round 22 and played two games, but then I hurt my shoulder and missed the second final which we lost, so that was it."
He admits to having doubts on whether he would ever get back.
"I was definitely starting to think, 'I'm 30' and I wasn't looking at playing most of the year. It's always in your mind, 'What if this is it?' It was pretty frustrating," he said.
The other thing he had to deal with was a significant change in the rules.
"I was a bit nervous coming back because you think, 'Have I still got something to offer and can I still hold my own here?'," he said.
"I played a few games in the VFL just to get the hang of the hands-in-the-back rule, to try and get it right.
"I got pinged a couple of times and I'm still probably getting pinged now.
"It's certainly harder for defenders now. I remember when I started you could almost take the guy's head off and then it would just be play on.
"Now you have got to try and stop them in a different way and you rely a lot more on your teammates up the ground. Them putting pressure on just makes it that much easier."
While his main focus remains stopping the opposition's gun forward, much to Thomas's and Shaw's chagrin, there is now more pressure for Prestigiacomo to pick up a few more possessions himself.
"I guess I have never been an offensive weapon," he said with a grin. "Hopefully there is still the role there for me to take on the gun forward or big power forward and try and nullify their performance.
"That is more effective than me trying to get 20 touches and kick a few goals.

"But I suppose now I have to change a little bit, try and get a few more possessions and sort of create, handball to the runners and try and block for them, that sort of stuff."
He acknowledges he is likely to hold the honour of being the player with the fewest kicks to his name in the 200-game club. "I think that is almost a certainty, I'd say."
Prestigiacomo's stellar career began way back at the 1995 national draft when he was taken at pick No. 10 as a promising centre half-forward from the Northern Knights.
By 1999 he was playing at full-back, but his relationship with coach Mick Malthouse did not start off strongly. The coach did not rate Presti when he arrived from the West Coast Eagles.
"I was uncertain (about him) when I first arrived at this football club," Malthouse said this week.
"Players that I'd coach that played on him - and I'm talking maybe (Peter) Sumich and certainly Scotty Cummings - they all had a piece of him.
"My opinion of Simon was based on those games. I thought when I first arrived here . . . that we seriously needed to consider another full-back."
Malthouse soon found out the error of his ways after the player he ordained as Prestigiacomo's replacement was taken to the cleaners by a young up-and-coming Carlton forward.
"My pick played on a young bloke, who played one of his first games, and I think he set a world record for the number of goals kicked in a NAB Cup series in Brendan Fevola," Malthouse said.
"So that's how far I was off, and there are the lessons in life. Simon Prestigiacomo came back into the side and I had a greater appreciation of what Simon does and how he goes about his work.
"I just think it (200 games) is testament to his durability, loyalty to his football club. He's not one ounce of a problem in that you set him a task and he does it."
His former captain Nathan Buckley said Presti was now always the first picked at Collingwood, while Essendon champion James Hird lauded the underrated defender and declared that Matthew Lloyd - his opponent today - described Prestigiacomo as his hardest opponent because of his deceptive pace that allowed him to get to every marking contest.
Wakelin, who often jokes with his friend about how he got an extra two years out of his career because Prestigiacomo was always injured, says he makes others walk taller around him because of his reliability.
"In 2002-03, playing with Presti and Jimmy (Clement) you just knew every week you would go out into battle and you knew he would do a job every week," he said.
One of his favourite stories when explaining how nothing seemed to faze Prestigiacomo came in Wakelin's second year at the Pies in 2002, when the full-back sat on the bench for an entire game.
"It was back in the days when no one was ever interchanged and he sat on the bench for the entire game," Wakelin said.
"We all took the piss out of him after the game and I'm not sure there would have been too many guys who after not playing a minute of the game we could take the piss out of - he is probably the only one you could do it to.
"We knew he wouldn't fire back, he'd just cop it and move on.
"He was always an easy target to hang s--- on because he never fires back, but, in saying that, he has got an enormous amount of respect around the footy club.
"He is just one of those guys that no one would ever say a bad word about."
As things get wound up at the Lexus Centre, with Prestigiacomo required at a briefing with AFL chief executive Andrew Demetriou, the million-dollar question is asked: have you ever lost your cool?
"Probably inside my head I have," he said simply, before begrudgingly relaying his wife's mobile number.

 

[bushpie]

Says it all........... Thanks HS for the pic lol

 

[Sloth]

3 Brownlow points coming up!