GWS and Collingwood to pay tribute to the late Lou Richards before clash at Spotless Stadium

GWS and Collingwood will pay tribute to Lou Richards before the clash at Spotless Stadium on Saturday, while a tribute will also take place before each of the other eight matches.

The late Lou Richards in front of his statue outside the Holden Centre.

FOOTBALL legend Lou Richards never attended a game at Spotless Stadium but he will be in a familiar position as the centre of attention when his beloved Collingwood take on GWS Giants there on Saturday.

Richards’s lifelong contribution to the game will be recognised with a video tribute before the match and by both groups of players who will wear black arm bands in his honour.

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An acknowledgment of his enormous impact on the game will be made at each of the seven other games around Australia and at the first ever game in China between the Gold Coast Suns and Port Adelaide.

Richards’s old team the Magpies will be looking to maintain their perfect 5-0 record against the Giants, which includes three wins at Spotless.

Collingwood players train with Lou Richards watching over them earlier this week. Picture: Nicole Garmston

The late Lou Richards in front of his statue outside the Holden Centre.

Nathan Buckley’s men shocked the high flying GWS in the corresponding match in Round 16 last year when they blew them away with a nine-goal second quarter to run out easy 32-point winners.

While the win-loss ratio is lopsided in Collingwood’s favour the teams have developed a rivalry which dates back to the Giants’ arrival in the competition.

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Pies president Eddie McGuire responded to GWS coach Kevin Sheedy’s taunts saying the Giants young players would soon be living in “The land of the falafel” and would be easily poached by Victorian clubs including Collingwood.

His words have proved prophetic with three of the Giants’ most talented young players now in black and white including Adam Treloar, Taylor Adams and Will Hoskin-Elliott.

Originally published as GWS and Collingwood to pay tribute to the late Lou Richards before clash at Spotless Stadium