Collingwood Best Team from 1970 – 2019

[Boot]

At age of 9 my first interest in Collingwood started in ~ 1970 and we all know how that year ended with an epic Grand Final and sharing a tear with Bobby Rose as the hated Carlton over-ran a super talented, but equally unlucky, team. Now, it has occurred to me that this coming year will be 50 years of living the highs and lows as a Collingwood supporter. The following is my best team from the players I have seen play for Collingwood since 1970 and is chosen on the basis of their best form over their best years with Collingwood with credits given for Copeland & Brownlow Medalists, Premierships won and of course my bias towards a couple of my favorite players.

Backs: H.Shaw, S.Prestigiacomo, N.Maxwell (V.Capt)
H.Backs: G.Brown, W.Picken, N.Buckley
Centers: J.Greening, T.Shaw (Capt.), D.Millane
H.Forwards: R.Kink, T.Cloke, P.Carman
Forwards: P.Moore, P.McKenna, P.Daicos
Followers: L.Thompson, S.Pendlebury, D.Swan
Interchange: W.Richardson, D.Tuddenham, J.Clement, B.Grundy
Emergencies: A.Rocca, S.Rocca, S.Sidebottom, M.McQuane
Coach; Bob Rose.
Always difficult to compare players relative worth from different era’s, but I challenge fellow Nicksters to pick a better team of Collingwood champions from the same past 50 years, but these are my reasons for picking the above team;
Heath Shaw: Strong overhead for his size, rarely beaten one-on-one and completed the smother of the century to get the 2010 premiership home to Collingwood. Apologies to Stan Magro and Braydon Maynard who I hope continues to develop into a champion defender for the Magpies.
Simon Prestigiacomo: Strong and dour defender who held his own against most opponents. Surprisingly quick for his size and tragically missed the 2010 premiership with injury. Apologies to Gary Pert and Peter McCormack.
Nick Maxwell: Some may question his ability vs other Collingwood champion defenders, but for leadership and getting the job done when it mattered, Nick gets my choice in the starting 18 with apologies to James Clement. He was my choice of Vice Captain having seen his leadership help drive the 2010 team to victory.
Gavin Brown: Tough, skillful and never beaten one-on-one. Some may question his position on a back flank but he won a EJ Whitten trophy for best on ground in a State of Origin game playing there. A luxury to have such a talent on the back flank but in this team Gavin would be icing on the cake and offers the flexibility to play anywhere needed.
Billy Picken: Champion mark who was often amongst the best in the biggest games. Tough with a touch of white line fever that every good CHB should have. Apologies, from a relatively small sample size, to Darcy Moore who I hope goes on to establish himself as a Collingwood great over the next few years.
Nathan Buckley: Another champion on-baller chosen for the back flank, but in any era Nathan’s class and kicking would be devastating at driving the ball forward from the back half of the ground.
John Greening: Footballs greatest tragedy that he was cut down just as he was hitting his prime, but what a super player he was. We can only wonder what could have been if Johnny Greening hadn’t been taken out of the game so brutally and unfairly in a hit behind play by St.Kilda’s Jim O”Dea. Almost certainly would have won the Brownlow that year in 1972 and may have changed history to help win several more premierships if he had been available to play out the rest of the next decade. Would be a super player in todays game too.
Tony Shaw: Chosen for the length of career and sheer determination to get the most out of his game. Tough as nails and terrific captain who won the Norm Smith medal in the drought breaking 1990 premiership win.
Darren Millane: Another of football’s great tragedy’s that was taken from us too soon. Tough, strong and aggressive with skill to burn and match it with the best. Apologies to Ricky Barham who just missed out due to those shaky hamstrings letting him down for too many games missed to injury.
Rene Kink: The “Incredible Hulk” was an explosive powerful forward who could win a game off his own boot and at his best was unstoppable.
Travis Cloke: The best contested mark in the game for a decade. For a huge man he could run most defenders off their legs and had a booming left foot kick that only let him down when he was within 25 meters of goal, but in this team he wouldn’t have to get that close to goal!!
Phil Carman: We didn’t get to see enough of Phil at his best, but for the relatively short time he was he was at Collingwood he was outstanding. An explosive player with class all over and another who could win a game off his own foot. I still haven’t entirely forgiven him for the brain fade that saw him suspended for both the 1977 grand finals that surely cost him and Collingwood a premiership that year, but too good to leave out of Collingwoods best team.
Peter Moore: Whilst he won two Brownlow medals as a mobile ruckman, his terrific marking across the full forward line was what I remember most about Moore’s time at Collingwood. Peter carried Collingwood’s team to 3 grand finals in a row in 1979, 80 & 81 but those teams just lacked the required class to get the ultimate prize.
Peter McKenna: The man most responsible for my lifelong love of Collingwood. Absolute superstar in his heyday and was always a great person as well. Whilst this team doesn’t have Barry Price to belt the ball down Peter’s throat, he would still get great delivery from upfield and, unlike most recent Collingwood teams, once Peter McKenna got the ball from anywhere inside the forward 50 you could mark it down as a goal. Peter’s superb drop punts were as accurate as any footballer I have ever seen.
Peter Daicos: Picks himself in this team with unmatched skills. The most skillful player I have ever seen play the game.
Len Thompson: With 5 Copland Trophies he was a great ruckman with terrific mobility. Dominated the ruck in a era where there were plenty of good ruckmen about. The combination of Thommo feeding Wayne Richardson with exquisite tap work was a joy to behold.
Scott Pendlebury: Super consistent playmaker who performs at his best in the biggest games. May yet become Collingwood’s greatest without doing the spectacular but still being the best there is.
Dane Swan: Explosive power and great skills made Swanny the best midfielder in the game for about 4 years when he was at his prime. Could always be relied upon to kick a goal when the team needed it most and continuously racked up 30+ possessions with his gut running at speed. Debatable if he had the tank to survive without the interchange, but I’m assuming the interchange is available when choosing this team.
Wayne Richardson: A great midfielder in any era who made high possession games a habit before it was fashionable. Tremendous relationship with Len Thompson on the field made him a very serviceable player for many years at Collingwood. Apologies to Scott Russell.
Des Tuddenham: Tuddy’s best was probably before 1970 but he was still regarded as one of our best in the early 70’s. Tuddy was probably the toughest player going around but also a very skillful player who never took a backward step and was a fitness fanatic before it was as common as it is now. But for a turbulent period in his football career where he was sacked as captain for chasing more money he may well have captained Collingwood to a couple of premierships. Apologies to Paul Williams.
James Clement: Jimmy Clement was always a little underrated when he played but won two Copeland Trophies and All Australian selections. Rarely beaten one-on-one he was a very dependable defender. Apologies to Dennis Banks.
Brody Grundy: Brody still has the best part of his career ahead of him but from what I have already seen this man deserves to be included in this team for his exceptional athleticism and power around the ground. Maybe a bit indulgent on my part to include Brody ahead of so many other champions but I love his impact on games. Apologies to the Rocca brothers.
Steele Sidebottom: Tough and skillful on-baller who could also play forward. Very consistent and unlucky not to win the Norm Smith medal in the 2010 replay.
Saverio Rocca: Not a natural footballer, but a leviathan of a man who was the cornerstone of Collingwood’s forward line for a long time and was unfortunately pushed out of the club by Mick Malthouse as he was deemed too slow to compete then went on to play another 101 games with Nth Melb. Topped Collingwoods goal kicking table for seven successive years from 1993.
Anthony Rocca: “Pebbles” had a giant presence on the field and perhaps the longest kick of a football I have ever seen. If he wasn’t suspended in a preliminary final in 2003 or not for a blind goal umpire in 2002 grand final he may have carried Collingwood to a premiership win over Brisbane.
Mick McQuane: Super skillful on-baller who played the link man in a key role under Leigh Matthews for many years. “Lethal” rated Mick as the smartest footballer he had seen in his time at Collingwood.
Bob Rose: I chose Bobby Rose as coach more out of sentimentality for what could have been. Also I feel Bobby Rose is more of a Collingwood man than the more successful coaches of Lethal Leigh Matthews, Tommy Hafey and Mick Malthouse. Besides I reckon I could coach this side to a premiership so it’s a nice thought that Bobby Rose would be able to finally get to win a premiership for his beloved Collingwood with such a team as this one!
Apologies to many other Collingwood champions, I love them all, but there is only 22 spots to fill which what makes this exercise so interesting.

[eddiesmith]

Not a bad 21 players, but things are very, very bad if a player who could never beat an opponent makes your backline...

[Harrysz]

Boot, this is a wonderful post. Well done!

[Lazza]

Superb effort bringing back so many great memories. They so deserved to win more than 2 flags in that term. A real travesty🥺😩😡

[stui magpie]

Team of champions. WPT won't be happy as you've left all 3 of him out.

My only criticism is if you were picking a team to actually play, it wouldn't work because the forward line is too tall and the backline not tall enough but that's the beauty of these kind of teams, they don't actually get to play anyone.

[Boot]

Stui Magpie,
Interesting criticism on the size of the team's forward and defense. Perhaps a potential inclusion of Alan Didak in place of Rene Kink to provide some better balance.
As for size in the backline, I can't think of anyone better to challenge Presti and Billy Picken for the key defensive roles but open to suggestion?

[stui magpie]

I always thought McCormack was better than Presti, but Presti has the size advantage. We don't have a lot of tall KPB to chose from, Kelly or Christian would be better defensively than Billy but I loved the guy/

Drop Kink, move Greening to HFF, Brown to the wing, Picken to HBF and Kelly or Christian in to CHB

On the interchange, drop Grundy. You can't play 3 genuine ruckmen and Thompson and Moore have credits Grundy doesn't have........yet.

His spot goes to a pacey small. I'm leaning toward Ronnie Wearmouth but could be convinced otherwise such as Ray Shaw.

[Lazza]

[Rd10.1998_11.1#36]

[eddiesmith]

[AnthonyC]

A Collingwood Premiership Captain....

Seriously if I was still a mod, you’d get an automatic yellow.

[Born to Pie]

Four of six forwards in your team have names starting with "P".

Our current list doesn't have one player with a name starting with P.

We better draft one tonight, great team, great post.

[Presti35]

H.Shaw, S.Prestigiacomo, N.Maxwell (V.Capt)
G.Brown, W.Picken, N.Buckley

ES isn't talking about Shaw or Brown. I doubt he's talking about Picken. He isn't the biggest Bucks fan, but surly he isnt talking about him.

I don't recall him having too much to say about Presti in the past...

[Pies4shaw]

Good team, Boot. FWIW, I'd make the following adjustments:

Presti out, Michael Christian in.

Maxwell out, Reid in.

Tony Shaw out, Scott Russell in.

Kink out, McGuane in.

Tuddy out, Mark Williams in.

Gavin Brown would be captain and Pendlebury would be my 2IC.

Coach: Bob Rose out, Matthews in.

Also, I'd have Grundy as first ruck. After Carman (who remains the best footballer I have ever seen in any jumper), Thor is the best player I have seen in black and white.

[stui magpie]

^

Shit, I forgot Reid had been AA CHB.

I'll stick with my changes except for Reid in instead of Kelly/Christian.

In a couple more years I might agree with Thor as first ruck but not just yet.