Gary Lyon Article in HeraldSun

[Black_White]

Herald Sun, Tuesday, May 21 2002.
Garry Lyon
As much as it hurts, fans of all clubs are saying..... THANK YOU, PIES.
Most people know where my allegiances lie when it comes to supporting a football team.
It is a legacy of having spent 17 years at one club and it will not change till the day I die.
But surely I can lay claim to some form of impartiality when I can say, with some conviction and not a hint of sarcasm, that what Collingwood has been able to achieve this season is good for football.
It is exciting and has breathed life into a competition that only weeks ago seemed to be a race between three clubs.
The truth is Collingwood polarises the football community and, in the process, generates the sort of interest in the game that has the major stakeholders rubbing their hands together.
Television consortiums that fork out millions of dollars for the rights to broadcast the game would be every bit as excited as Eddie McGuire at the moment.
Hang on, bad example. They are one and the same.
If you think Mick Malthouse is enjoying his football, then the enthusiasm would be challenged down at Channel 9 today as it salivates over the prospect of broadcasting Friday night's match between the Pies and Port Adelaide from Football Park.
So too would the Port bean counters. If they can't pack their ground this week, they never will.
This means the pie sellers will do a roaring trade, the bars will be ticking over at a rapid rate, The AFL Record sales will be up, car parks will be full, the buses packed and the corporate boxes crowded.
And knowing the fanaticism of the Magpie army, South Australian tourism will also get a shot in the arm with those Pie supporters fortunate enough to secure a ticket converging on Adelaide, booking out hotel rooms, eating out at pubs and restaurants and either dancing or drowning the night away, depending on the result.
And apart from all of that, just when we are told football was about to drown under the weight of the almighty flood, and hundreds of thousands who attend the eight games each week were about to switch their focus to the upcoming soccer World Cup because the game had become a boring spectacle, the Pies came out and play traditional, hard, tough, attacking football that knocks off the premier.
Even the most cynical, passionate Pie hater would have to be impressed and thankful for that.
Perhaps the most impressive thing about this Magpie revival is how they have gone about assembling their list.
They have taken the medicine that comes with finishing well down the AFL ladder, displayed a healthy degree of patience, resisted the temptation to trade away their early draft picks for older, more established stars and, at the same time, been able to recycle players from other clubs who had plenty of good footy left in them.
Their recruiting and drafting is a model other clubs would be well advised to look at.
Of the 22 players who took the field on Saturday night, 17 were taken in the past four drafts.
Nine players came from the national draft, five were traded from other clubs, one was elevated from the rookie list and two were selected in the pre-season draft.
That is 17 players who played their first game for Collingwood no earlier than the 1999 season.
By comparison, Brisbane had only six players on Saturday night who made their debuts with the club from 1999 onwards.
The ability of those charged with the responsibility of rebuilding the list at Collingwood is to be commended.
You can also add the names of Leon Davis, Alan Didak, Rhyce Shaw, Damian Adkins and Heath Scotland, who didn't play on Saturday night, to those who arrived at the club in the last three years.
Each one of these boys has the opportunity, by virtue of their ability, to establish themselves as long-term players at Victoria Park.
It is up to them to convert that potential into games.
That's almost a whole article on the Magpies without mentioning his name.
I know he may have started his career at another club, and an interstate on at that.
But he is a leader at Collingwood and he has been in outstanding form this year.
Yes, it would be wrong not to mention the contribution of Anthony Rocca to the Pies' resurgence. He has arrived as an AFL footballer.
Oh, and Nathan Buckley goes OK too.

[Joel]

I read that. Don't you love it when everyone starts to grovel at Collingwood's feet?

JDF

[junkboy75]

and to those who have continually bagged noel judkins and the recruiting staff, I think most people on this BB know who they are - STICK IT UP YOUR CLACKER!

quote:

---

Perhaps the most impressive thing about this Magpie revival is how they have gone about assembling their list.

They have taken the medicine that comes with finishing well down the AFL ladder, displayed a healthy degree of patience, resisted the temptation to trade away their early draft picks for older, more established stars and, at the same time, been able to recycle players from other clubs who had plenty of good footy left in them.

Their recruiting and drafting is a model other clubs would be well advised to look at.

---

"..we flew at them as a hawk to his prey, passed through them in the disordered state in which they were, separated them into two distinct parts and then tacked upon their largest division.." -- Captain Cuthbert Collingwood, 1797

[Brown26]

It's articles like that which make me start to worry. Memberships and merchandise sales are up, and one Age writer (can't remember who, it was in Monday's Age) put us as the fifth conteder for the grand final spot.

Wow.

The bandwagon is crashing forward at an alarming rate - don't forget to stop and play a bit of footy along the way boys.

btw - just read a Rocca article on the AFL website - finished with the quote "8 games don't make a season"
Apart from the gramm, rather apt I think.

Pies for Premiers 2002, 3, 4, 5, 6....

[This message has been edited by Brown26 (edited 22 May 2002).]

[MagpieMad]

junkboy75, well said m8