Beaten Magpie to Bulls leader: Luke Collins hopes for better grand final luck 10 years on

This time 10 years ago, Luke Collins and Montmorency were on the wrong end of Bundoora’s famous grand final comeback, now he hopes to captain the Bulls back to the promised land.

Luke Collins is hoping for better grand final luck 10 years on.

It’s funny where football can take you.

This time 10 years ago, Luke Collins was a skinny 18-year-old lining up for Montmorency in the 2013 NFNL Division 1 grand final against Bundoora.

What transpired that day will forever live in local footy folklore as the Bulls came back from 47 points down to snatch a famous victory.

On Saturday, Collins will captain Bundoora in a grand final against Heidelberg, hoping history can repeat, although perhaps not in such dramatic fashion.

“It’s crazy how things pan out,” Collins said.

A young Luke Collins in action for Montmorency.

Luke Collins in action for Bundoora. Picture: Josie Hayden

“I was an outside winger, didn’t like much contact back then with a light frame.

“I can’t remember a hell of a lot of it, I reckon I would have had a few touches early but I don’t think anyone really touched it in the last quarter and a bit.

“Hopefully things go a bit better than that year and last year, fingers crossed it’s third time lucky.

“I do remember the crowd was big, plenty of noise, plenty of excitement and nerves, I reckon that will hold me in good stead this weekend.”

Rivals 10 year ago but now last year’s co-captain Brent Marshall and coach Michael Ryan are close confidants.

Although reminders of the result are swiftly forgotten.

“I just tune out of that, it still hurts a little bit that one, but hopefully we can get what we deserve on the weekend,” Collins said.

Marshall is the last link to the 2013 triumph and Saturday could be his farewell to a club that’s been home for much of his life.

Bundoora celebrates its 2013 Division 1 premiership. Picture: Kris Reichl

Bundoora captains and coaches lift the premiership trophy. Picture: Kris Reichl

Ryan is looking to join rare company as a premiership player and coach at the Bulls and said the club’s culture was built on leaders like Marshall and Collins.

“Nipper Marshall reflected on (the 2013 premiership) and discussed it with the group on Saturday morning when we had our captain’s run,” he said.

“We used a couple of those reference points in Sunday’s game and hopefully we can do it again (this weekend).

“The club has been successful for a long period of time, the culture that’s been created by these guys and we want to keep validating that.

“I remember Luke playing that day and he was very much just a young kid coming through in the Montmorency colours.

“It’s great to see what he’s been able to do as captain, he’s really grown and matured as a person since he came to Bundoora and leadership comes so naturally to him.

“He does a mountain of work in the background to drive the group and not just the 22 that will represent us on Saturday.”

If Bundoora is to salute on Saturday, stopping Heidelberg from going back-to-back, it would sit comfortably alongside that 2013 triumph.

Gary Moorcroft takes a speccie in the 2013 grand final.

It lives in local footy folklore as one of the greatest comebacks in grand final history and will long be remembered for the Bulls’ last-quarter blitz behind the notorious Preston City Oval breeze.

Along with Collins, Montmorency featured a budding tall by the name of Patrick Fitzgerald, now a three-time league goalkicking winner, as well as the likes of Jesse Donaldson, Alex Chiocci all-time NFNL games record holder Daniel Keenan.

The Magpies led by 47 points entering time on of the third quarter as they looked to end a then 34-year premiership drought.

Instead, Bundoora would kick 11 unanswered goals, including 9.9 in the final term, to snatch a nigh-unbelievable 29-point victory.

Gary Moorcroft finished with six goals and Cameron Cloke three, while Brayden Shaw, Kent Delbridge, Michael Farrelly and Ricky Dyson were prolific.

Collins is looking to follow in Shaw’s footsteps and hoist the premiership cup.

Shaw won the best-on-ground medal that day and just remembers a wall of noise.

“It was a hot day and a massive crowd was in,” he said.

“Gary Moorcroft took one of the greatest marks I’ve ever seen and Kent Delbridge kicked a goal late in the third term to get us back to 30-odd points.

“Without that we probably don’t win because it took us a long time to reel them back in.”

Moorcroft soared into the Preston air, bringing down a grab reminiscent of his famous 2001 Mark of the Year over Brad Johnson, and his goal was followed by a match-turning major to Ken Delbridge.

The margin was back to 33 points at three-quarter-time and when Shaw kicked the first goal of the last quarter the Bulls’ charge began.

“I put five metres on it every year but I would have been 55-60m out and I thought with the wind I could get the distance,” Shaw said.

“That was obviously really important, to get that first goal, and once we got on a roll we probably could have won by even more because we kicked 9.9.”

Fresh off a week off, having won the major semi-final in eerily similar circumstances, Montmorency were dominant for three quarters.

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Magpies coach Jack Cole was left in disbelief as he watched his side collapse.

“Even leading by five or six goals at three-quarter-time I thought we could have been in a bit of trouble with the wind,” Cole said.

“Guys that had been quiet all game, like Cameron Cloke and Gary Moorcroft, all of a sudden came to life and we just couldn’t seem to stop the momentum.”

While Bundoora would salute again in 2017 and made the decider last year, 2013 is the last grand final Montmorency has played.