Retired Collingwood player Tyson Goldsack reflects on his AFL career with the Magpies
“100,000 people in the MCG and I was the only one with a smile on my face”. Nothing in the AFL came easy for Collingwood premiership defender Tyson Goldsack, especially the famous 2010 grand final replay.
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Tyson Goldsack reckons he was the only person among a crowd of 100,000 with a smile on his face when the siren went at the MCG for the 2010 AFL grand final.
That’s because Collingwood and St Kilda’s infamous draw that day meant he had one more chance to make the Magpies’ 22 for the decider.
And he did, replacing Leon Davis for the replay a week later as the Pies ran out 56-point winners.
The unconventional journey to a premiership medal is somewhat reflective of Goldsack’s time at the elite level.
He’s battled, scrapped and taken the alternative path on many occasions to forge a footy career to be more than proud of.
As Goldsack sat down with The Messenger after being announced as a development coach and SANFL leadership player with Port Adelaide, the premiership defender recounted his 165 games in the famous black and white.
“I played the prelim, got dropped for the grand final and I thought ‘that was it, I’ve been shunned and I’m not going to get the chance’,” the 32-year-old said.
“Once they drew … 100,000 people in the MCG and I was the only one with a smile on my face.
“I didn’t think I could deal with another week because it had been an emotional rollercoaster but luckily Mick (Malthouse) told me early in the week I would be playing.
“The cards fell my way with the draw, the door opened and I took the chance.”
Goldsack famously kicked the opening goal of the replay after coming off the bench early in the match.
His mother won a nice return on her $5 wager at $87 for her son to kick the first major.
“It worked pretty nicely but I wouldn’t recommend it to anyone,” Goldsack jokes.
“If you can stay in for the first grand final, that’s ideal.”
The team success was the high point of Goldsack’s career – one he admits is not littered with personal accolades. In the end the club always takes precedence over the individual in his eyes.
Growing up in Pakenham south-east of Melbourne, he says he didn’t take football seriously until his late teens.
“My footy life hasn’t all been one way and everything given to me in an easy ride – I’ve had to fight for a fair bit,” Goldsack says.
“It hasn’t been the traditional journey – playing under-16s, then for your state, then you get drafted at 17-18 and play your career without backward steps – mine was very different.
“I was late into the game of football, really, and taking it seriously.”
He played TAC Cup for the Gippsland Power but was overlooked at the 2005 AFL draft.
After a pre-season with Hawthorn, he returned and played as an over-ager in the under-18 competition before Collingwood gave him a chance at pick No. 63 in the 2006 draft.
Despite that hiccup, Goldsack went on to play on the likes of Sydney Swans veteran Micky O’Loughlin and then Hawks superstar Lance Franklin in his first season as a young key defender.
More recently he was one of the feel-good stories of the 2018 season after he recovered from a knee reconstruction to make the team for the finals and the losing decider.
Goldsack failed to add to his AFL games tally in 2019 but made 17 VFL appearances.
He ended his AFL career in August widely regarded as a team-first, versatile player and out-and-out competitor.
Goldsack says he and wife Chelsea, who is from Adelaide, decided “about two years ago” they would move to SA when his time at Collingwood was up, along with daughters Harriet, 2, and Cleo, five months.
Now, as he prepares to change his black and white stripes from Collingwood’s to Port Adelaide’s, Goldsack is aiming to use the lessons learnt from his unique career to help the Power’s youth.
“Hopefully I can bring that experience to the players on the (Power) list now, to teach them that it’s not just going to fall into your lap and be all smooth sailing,” he says.
“You’re going to have to battle through things and build your resilience along the way.”
In the SANFL the 193cm, 93kg utility will still play in black and white for the Magpies but come Power coaching duties he will add teal to his game-day strip.
But what will happen when Port travels to the MCG – the scene of some of Goldsack’s fondest memories – in round five next year to take on Collingwood?
“I’d want it to be a close game but I’d want Port to win,” Goldsack says.
“But at the same time Collingwood is such a big part of my life and I’ll always be a Collingwood player and a fan of the Magpies.
“I put the (Port Adelaide) kit on yesterday for the first time. I’ve got a bit of colour on here now, it used to just be black and white but I think the teal might work with me, we’ll see how we go.
“We’re in the business of winning games and winning flags and Port’s now my team and place of work, so let’s go win that flag.”