Toast Copeland Trophy 2023

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I have a problem with Bucks having so many. Really who in the 90’s was going to beat him? The side was trash for a long time and only had him. He’s a great player, Brownlow year shows that but he was very much a selfish player. For me he doesn’t compare to Pendles, Scotty is the goat. Bucks was a great player and an average coach.

My Collingwood all time bests:
Pendles
Syd Coventry
P.Daicos
Rose
Bucks
Collier (Either one)
Gavin Brown
Tuddy
P.Moore

Gavin Brown was everything you could ever want from a footballer. Courageous, skilful, team oriented and a great leader. Him and Scotty Burns were greatly underrated because of the presence of figjam.

Definitely some recency bias here but some of the oldies were just too good to leave off just from stats alone.
This 100%.

People seem to forget he was about 20/21 when we got him. But was a soft as butter outside receiver for most of his first 3-4 seasons. People bag Naicos for not being hard at it. Jesus, Buckley used to dive out of the way and clap his hands at team mates on the bottom of packs to hand ball it out to him.

He also play wing, half fwd and half back a hell of a lot in his earlier years. He got a lot of easy ball off half back. He was certainly no brown or Millane when it come to contested ball.

It wasn’t really till Malthouse got there that he bulked up, learnt to tackle, win an hard ball and played centre 100%. And those three or 4 years from about 2000-2003 were indeed elite.

Then his body broke down and we never got that same output again.

Buckley himself in his own biography outlines his flaws as a player. Sure our list was putrid in the late nineties. But it didn’t help we have our best player spraying team mates constantly for their errors and playing for stats.

Much like Naicos this year, due to phenomenal coaching the club won a qualifying final with our Buckley in 02. Perhaps the greatest win of Buckleys career at Collingwood and he didn’t even play in it.

Pendlebury has been an elite centre man from 2008 to 2023. That’s 16 seasons at an elite level. Sure you could argue Buckleys best may have been more dominant at times than Pendles. But Pendles never sprays his players like Buckley did. Pendles gets more out of his team mates as a result.

Lastly, without Pendles we don’t win in 2010 nor 2023. That last qtr in the GF was the best performance and most dominate performance I’ve seen from a Collingwood player when it mattered most. He inspired his team mates all through out this finals series - putting his body on the line time and again (which is something he’s never been renowned for).

Hands down Pendlebury, with two premierships and the most consistent elite career at Collingwood, and up there in AFL history, whilst playing 16 years in the middle is by far the best and most dominant player I have seen at Collingwood in the AFL era.

I can’t comment on Peter Moore or those before as I didn’t see them play. In any event, if it ain’t Pendlebury - then it’s Millane. Watch his highlights. Toughest and most courageous player and a true winner like Leigh matthews and Dustin Martin. Had Millane not died, Buckley wouldn’t even get mentioned. He’d have been always compared to Pants and due to his softness in his early years - Buckley wouldn’t be as revered.
 
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Why is Fly saying the Collingwood chant is going up way too early? Ive heard people in the media say this but su rely not Fly! Its not meant to be a ""we win chant"" its meant to support, intimidate and encourage, sometimes it goes up when we are losing!
Steele has asked us to do it early on more than one occasion.
 
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This 100%.

People seem to forget he was about 20/21 when we got him. But was a soft as butter outside receiver for most of his first 3-4 seasons. People bag Naicos for not being hard at it. Jesus, Buckley used to dive out of the way and clap his hands at team mates on the bottom of packs to hand ball it out to him.

He also play wing, half fwd and half back a hell of a lot in his earlier years. He got a lot of easy ball off half back. He was certainly no brown or Millane when it come to contested ball.

It wasn’t really till Malthouse got there that he bulked up, learnt to tackle, win an hard ball and played centre 100%. And those three or 4 years from about 2000-2003 were indeed elite.

Then his body broke down and we never got that same output again.

Buckley himself in his own biography outlines his flaws as a player. Sure our list was putrid in the late nineties. But it didn’t help we have our best player spraying team mates constantly for their errors and playing for stats.

Much like Naicos this year, due to phenomenal coaching the club won a qualifying final with our Buckley in 02. Perhaps the greatest win of Buckleys career at Collingwood and he didn’t even play in it.

Pendlebury has been an elite centre man from 2008 to 2023. That’s 16 seasons at an elite level. Sure you could argue Buckleys best may have been more dominant at times than Pendles. But Pendles never sprays his players like Buckley did. Pendles gets more out of his team mates as a result.

Lastly, without Pendles we don’t win in 2010 nor 2023. That last qtr in the GF was the best performance and most dominate performance I’ve seen from a Collingwood player when it mattered most. He inspired his team mates all through out this finals series - putting his body on the line time and again (which is something he’s never been renowned for).

Hands down Pendlebury, with two premierships and the most consistent elite career at Collingwood, and up there in AFL history, whilst playing 16 years in the middle is by far the best and most dominant player I have seen at Collingwood in the AFL era.

I can’t comment on Peter Moore or those before as I didn’t see them play. In any event, if it ain’t Pendlebury - then it’s Millane. Watch his highlights. Toughest and most courageous player and a true winner like Leigh matthews and Dustin Martin. Had Millane not died, Buckley wouldn’t even get mentioned. He’d have been always compared to Pants and due to his softness in his early years - Buckley wouldn’t be as revered.

The obsession lives on. Bucks was soft but the keyboard warrior is hard.


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Was there at Crown, a great night. However it is surely time to replace Brian Taylor as MC. He seemed tired and his voice was going. It was a good celebration, but felt just like every other one.
Time for the Copeland to be looked at and improved.
I've been to about 20 Copelands (maybe more). They were a bit less formal back in the 90s, and more about players and supporters having a great end of season night together. Funnily enough, supporters didn't 'swarm' players like they do now, but we used to have a drink with them at the social club after the game, so much more access and time together (respectful ... not constantly asking for autographs, and no phones being pointed at everyone's face and demanding selfies).

Obviously, this access can't and won't happen today because of modern training regimes, and a bigger and more professional competition, but it felt more like a club I belonged to. The Collingwood auction dinners and player testimonials were also something I loved going to with my family ... and I'm talking 1990s, not 1960s.

Brian Taylor barking at everyone and telling us all that it's the players' night and to leave them alone (and barking at us more generally) left me feeling totally unwelcome, so I don't bother anymore. If the night doesn't belong to us too, why take our money and expect us to just be pleased we're in the same room, breathing the same rarefied air as the team.

A new host would be an improvement but we would probably be given the same message, only delivered more politely. I don't expect supporters should go the full on swarm of the players, that's not on, and not my point. My point is I don't pay nearly $300 to be made to feel I'm a potential pest and to remember my place.

I think there should be two separate events. The B&F should be left for players, their families and officials 'only' at a smaller venue, and a more formal end of season dinner with the team and supporters could be held at Crown.

I do love the way the club now engages with us and makes us feel valued (unlike previous management), but the Copeland count is probably something the players and officials should be left to enjoy on their own. It could still be streamed live for supporters to watch.

Apologies for any typos ... I'm down one working hand at the moment.
Agreed, however there are a few big challenges …

* You’ve got very different stakeholders with very different desires. You ask players what the perfect sportsman’s night is, and what rank-and-file members what the perfect sportsman’s night is, and what sponsors and coteries what the perfect sportsman’s night is, and what online viewers what the perfect sportsman’s night is and you get all very different answers. How to please everyone? IMHO the Covid ones were better, and that’s probably because they could create something with fewer cohorts to please.

* They sold every ticket to the event in the biggest dining room in Melbourne + overflow. Where’s the motivation to improve it?
 
It’s normal. Finals count towards best and fairest results at all clubs. Even at local level too, I’ve never heard of a club not counting finals results.
I've played at a few clubs and never seen finals counted towards a beat and fairest.
 

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This 100%.

People seem to forget he was about 20/21 when we got him. But was a soft as butter outside receiver for most of his first 3-4 seasons. People bag Naicos for not being hard at it. Jesus, Buckley used to dive out of the way and clap his hands at team mates on the bottom of packs to hand ball it out to him.

He also play wing, half fwd and half back a hell of a lot in his earlier years. He got a lot of easy ball off half back. He was certainly no brown or Millane when it come to contested ball.

It wasn’t really till Malthouse got there that he bulked up, learnt to tackle, win an hard ball and played centre 100%. And those three or 4 years from about 2000-2003 were indeed elite.

Then his body broke down and we never got that same output again.

Buckley himself in his own biography outlines his flaws as a player. Sure our list was putrid in the late nineties. But it didn’t help we have our best player spraying team mates constantly for their errors and playing for stats.

Much like Naicos this year, due to phenomenal coaching the club won a qualifying final with our Buckley in 02. Perhaps the greatest win of Buckleys career at Collingwood and he didn’t even play in it.

Pendlebury has been an elite centre man from 2008 to 2023. That’s 16 seasons at an elite level. Sure you could argue Buckleys best may have been more dominant at times than Pendles. But Pendles never sprays his players like Buckley did. Pendles gets more out of his team mates as a result.

Lastly, without Pendles we don’t win in 2010 nor 2023. That last qtr in the GF was the best performance and most dominate performance I’ve seen from a Collingwood player when it mattered most. He inspired his team mates all through out this finals series - putting his body on the line time and again (which is something he’s never been renowned for).

Hands down Pendlebury, with two premierships and the most consistent elite career at Collingwood, and up there in AFL history, whilst playing 16 years in the middle is by far the best and most dominant player I have seen at Collingwood in the AFL era.

I can’t comment on Peter Moore or those before as I didn’t see them play. In any event, if it ain’t Pendlebury - then it’s Millane. Watch his highlights. Toughest and most courageous player and a true winner like Leigh matthews and Dustin Martin. Had Millane not died, Buckley wouldn’t even get mentioned. He’d have been always compared to Pants and due to his softness in his early years - Buckley wouldn’t be as revered.
This is the dumbest description of Nathan Buckley that I've ever seen you try and make him sound like an accumulator just for stats he is one of the greatest to ever play for our club and you talk like he is just another stat grabber piss poor take on one of the best to play the game
 
This 100%.

People seem to forget he was about 20/21 when we got him. But was a soft as butter outside receiver for most of his first 3-4 seasons. People bag Naicos for not being hard at it. Jesus, Buckley used to dive out of the way and clap his hands at team mates on the bottom of packs to hand ball it out to him.

He also play wing, half fwd and half back a hell of a lot in his earlier years. He got a lot of easy ball off half back. He was certainly no brown or Millane when it come to contested ball.

It wasn’t really till Malthouse got there that he bulked up, learnt to tackle, win an hard ball and played centre 100%. And those three or 4 years from about 2000-2003 were indeed elite.

Then his body broke down and we never got that same output again.

Buckley himself in his own biography outlines his flaws as a player. Sure our list was putrid in the late nineties. But it didn’t help we have our best player spraying team mates constantly for their errors and playing for stats.

Much like Naicos this year, due to phenomenal coaching the club won a qualifying final with our Buckley in 02. Perhaps the greatest win of Buckleys career at Collingwood and he didn’t even play in it.

Pendlebury has been an elite centre man from 2008 to 2023. That’s 16 seasons at an elite level. Sure you could argue Buckleys best may have been more dominant at times than Pendles. But Pendles never sprays his players like Buckley did. Pendles gets more out of his team mates as a result.

Lastly, without Pendles we don’t win in 2010 nor 2023. That last qtr in the GF was the best performance and most dominate performance I’ve seen from a Collingwood player when it mattered most. He inspired his team mates all through out this finals series - putting his body on the line time and again (which is something he’s never been renowned for).

Hands down Pendlebury, with two premierships and the most consistent elite career at Collingwood, and up there in AFL history, whilst playing 16 years in the middle is by far the best and most dominant player I have seen at Collingwood in the AFL era.

I can’t comment on Peter Moore or those before as I didn’t see them play. In any event, if it ain’t Pendlebury - then it’s Millane. Watch his highlights. Toughest and most courageous player and a true winner like Leigh matthews and Dustin Martin. Had Millane not died, Buckley wouldn’t even get mentioned. He’d have been always compared to Pants and due to his softness in his early years - Buckley wouldn’t be as revered.
This is an awful take.
 

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