AFL grand final 2023: The family connections that again drive a Collingwood flag
Collingwood’s 2023 premiership triumph was rich in family legacies, continuing a Magpie flag tradition stretching back to 1935.
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Collingwood’s cherished 16th VFL-AFL cup – fittingly achieved with the club’s 1600th victory – has finally returned the Magpies to the top of the premiership tree, sharing a crowded bough with bitter old rivals Carlton and Essendon.
In a stunning grand final triumph that washed away the tears of 2018, the Magpies overcame the Lions in an epic contest to win by four points on a magical spring afternoon at the MCG.
It came with that same sense of family and connection which has defined Craig McRae’s extraordinary two-season journey as a coach, as well as a masterclass performance from first-year Magpie Bobby Hill, who claimed the Norm Smith Medal with four goals.
Just moments before McRae and Darcy Moore took the premiership cup from Darcy’s dad Peter – which in itself was an emotional moment – the Magpies coach announced to the 100,024 fans in attendance and the millions watching on television that his wife, Gabrielle, had given birth to a daughter early on grand final morning.
“Today was already the best day of my life because my wife gave birth to a little girl (on Saturday) morning at 7.45,” McRae said in his classic mic-drop moment.
Two years ago Hill asked to be traded from Greater Western Sydney to Essendon, but the move was blocked. Then 18 months ago, he was diagnosed with testicular cancer, but not only found a way to return to health, he also found a way to Collingwood and grand final folklore.
His four goals made a massive difference in a tight game, as he became Collingwood’s third Norm Smith Medal winner.
It’s been a long road back to equal top of the premiership tree for the Magpies, taking 14,981 days, having held the mantle from 1928 to 1982, when Carlton wrested it off them.
On and off the field, the Pies have produced a stunning turnaround across the past two years, from finishing 17th in 2021 when the club was weighed down by bitter boardroom strife, the messy stain of the Do Better Report and a wipe-out season that left the club one spot off the bottom.
How can all that be only two years ago?
The storylines of this revival are everywhere – from the coach erroneously pigeonholed by some as only an assistant/development coach who helped to transform a club everyone loved to hate into compelling viewing; to the sons of guns who have enhanced Collingwood’s reputation as a family club; to the cast of recycled players shining in their new environment; to the rookies who have graduated with honours; and to two veterans who finally have finally got a companion to their 2010 premiership medals.
The premiers singing the song out in the middle of the 'G 🆠#AFLGF
— SuperFooty (AFL) (@superfooty) September 30, 2023
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Let’s start with McRae, who in the short space of 51 games has etched his name in Collingwood folklore.
Twenty years ago, he was one of those Lions inflicting grand final pain on the Magpies. Now he has now become the Pies’ sixth premiership coach, joining George Angus (1910), Jock McHale (1917, 1919, 1927-30, 1935-36), Phonse Kyne (1953 and 1958), his old Brisbane Lions coach Leigh Matthews (1990) and Mick Malthouse (2010).
Those five men have adorned the walls of his office at the AIA Centre for inspiration. He will be on those walls now.
In his pitch for the Collingwood job in late 2021, he emphasised the need to reconnect the Magpies with their past but also reconnect to their fans.
Mission accomplished on both points.
Collingwood’s long and storeyed history has always been about family through the generations.
Incredibly, every Magpies premiership since 1935 has had at least one player whose father had played with the club.
There is the Moore connection, with Darcy able to quench the pain of the past for his dad Peter – whose grand final record was four losses and a draw – in spectacular fashion. How fitting that his dad handed over the cup.
Then, there was Josh and Nick Daicos emulating their famous father Peter, who was such a huge part of the 1990 premiership side.
Even the most romantic Collingwood fans could barely believe that 30 years after Peter finished his career as a Magpie, they were cheering on his superbly talented sons.
Lachie Neale won the Brownlow Medal; Nick Daicos got the medal they both wanted.
It’s a second premiership triumph for Scott Pendlebury and Steele Sidebottom, and the gap between their first flag in 2010 and their second is now a record in itself.
The 13-season gap between flags one and two eclipses that of Doug Wade (Geelong and North Melbourne) and Drew Banfield (West Coast), who both did it after 12 seasons.
They were 19 and 22 in the replay, now they are dads themselves.
Will Hoskin-Elliott’s medal is a blast from the past – his great great grandfather Charlie Norris played in the Magpies’ 1910 flag.
The links to the Lions are many and varied in this Magpies’ side.
Jamie Elliott famously toured Brisbane’s facilities at the end of 2019 considering a move north before choosing to stay loyal.
Jack Crisp was a little-known Lions player when he was thrown in as “the steak knives” in the deal that sent Dayne Beams to Queensland in late 2014, and Crisp has gone on to become a dual Copeland Trophy winner and now a premiership player.
As part of the Beams deal, the Magpies also secured pick 5. They mulled over who to take, choosing between two kids called Jordan De Goey and Brayden Maynard.
They went with De Goey, and still got Maynard at pick 30.
Tom Mitchell’s dad Barry played 13 of his 221 games with Collingwood, with the bulk coming with Sydney and then Carlton. His one year in black and white came exactly 30 years ago – in the year of Tom’s birth – and his son joined the Magpies this season after stints at Sydney and Hawthorn.
Then there are the black and white fans who became Magpie premiership players on Saturday.
Jeremy Howe grew up in Dodges Ferry, Tasmania, and followed Collingwood with a passion. He adored Nathan Buckley so much that he kept a tattered old Bucks autograph in his wallet for so long that it crinkled and fell apart.
Isaac Quaynor was at the 2018 grand final, heartbroken by the Pies’ loss. He would join the club at the end of that year as a Next Generation Academy player.
And how about Mason Cox’s story. He hadn’t kicked a Sherrin a decade ago, and now the Texan has put Collingwood and the sport of AFL before the world. Now that’s some sort of story.
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