Mighty Narre Warren Magpie Collins hits 200 game milestone

SIX-time Narre Warren premiership player and seven-time best-and-fairest winner Michael Collins celebrated his 200th game with a 128 point win over ROC.

They call him “Collo”.

He’s a hard working plumber, an ordinary knockabout bloke you’d love to have a beer with and have as your best mate.

But Michael Collins holds a special, almost mystical place at Narre Warren. He is the chosen one, the keeper of the culture.

The six-time premiership player and seven-time best-and-fairest winner may well be regarded as Narre’s greatest player at career’s end and has already been bestowed the title of “legend” by team mates.

He is respected and admired by teammates and opponents alike for his sublime skills, inspirational deeds, and his demeanour on and off the field.

“Collo”’ played his 200th game on Saturday but the laconic Magpie skipper was uneasy being the centre of attention. And just as he’d done to so many opponents over the years he wanted to shake off all the pre-game hype.

“I just wanted to get it over and done with, to tell you the truth,” he said.

“So far in my other milestone games, I haven’t played that well but it’s still great to have reached so many games.

“I love being around the club.

“No matter what is going on in your life you can always get away from it on the footy ground. I love the contest, getting out there and giving it everything.”

His coach Chris Toner, for whom Collins has worked r as a plumber since he was 17, said of his inspirational captain: “He might not know it or realise it but he’s had a profound influence on the people he’s met.

“He’s knocked back plenty of offers that most blokes would have jumped at, but it’s not about money with ‘Collo’. It’s about character, selflessness, mateship, and loyalty, and that is why he is the heartbeat of the club.”

Collins had a year with Dandenong Stingrays and did pre-season training with Springvale in the VFA/VFL before deciding to return to Narre to play with his brothers Chris and Damien.

So started one of the most celebrated careers in local football. He is one of only two players (Nick Scanlon is the other) to have played in all six Narre flags since 2006.

He captained the 2010, ‘12 and ‘13 premiership sides and is well on track to lead the Magpies to another flag this season.

The 29-year-old said he’d like to play on for another four or five years, depending on how his body held up.

His six-time premiership team mate and Narre playing assistant coach Nick Scanlon, said Collins was a “local footy legend”.

“His on-field leadership is something I haven’t seen in another player before, and his loyalty is something I’ve never seen in another player,” Scanlon said.

“Since the retirement of guys like Glen Hamilton and Brett Evans, who inspired us as young blokes, ‘Collo has become the backbone of the Narre culture that everyone talks about.”

The Magpies celebrated Collins’ 200th by demolishing ROC 24.24 (168) to 6.4 (40).

Power forward Kerem Baskaya booted 11 goals to make it 23 from two games.

The Magpies blitzed the Boxing Kangaroo with five unanswered goals in the first term led by Baskaya.

Coach Chris Toner said his players were always going to serve up something special for their skipper.

“I didn’t hold out much hope for them in regards to how the boys were pumped and fired up to do well for Collo. They were just focused on getting the job done for their captain.”

And their skipper reciprocated being named among the Magpies’ best.

*Other results

It was a win for the blue-collar clubs, a win the competition needed to regain integrity and a win that has cast doubts on Berwick’s ability to survive the early final rounds.

Despite having nine less scoring shots, Tooradin caused the upset of the round, defeating the fifth-placed Wickers 13.7 (85) to 8.21 (69).

Skipper Madison Andrews said Berwick had lost the respectability it had earned early in the campaign.

“At the start of the season when we won all those games, people were starting to gain a lot of respect for us. We’ve probably lost that respect,’’ he said.

“We just haven’t been able to get our mojo back when we were winning games convincingly. It’s hard to point to one thing to switch it all around. It’s the time of year when you want to becoming into good form but at the moment we are not doing that.

“There are signs, but the positives are being outweighed by the negatives at the moment.”

Andrews rued his side’s lack of ball use in their wind-assisted time.

“We kicked ourselves out of the game, again.

“We’ve created a lot of opportunities over the last couple of weeks but haven’t been able to capitalise on them.

“We had the wind in the third quarter but couldn’t kick goals.

“They came home with it and had a lot of momentum in the last quarter. Our ball use is letting us down and affecting our confidence.”

To emphasise the skipper’s point, the Wickers had only one multiple goalkicker in Jordan Andrews, with two goals.

Jake Yields battled hard, as did his skipper and Michael Harold.

Pakenham had a harder-than-expected start against cellar dweller Hampton Park, but in tough, windy conditions showed its skills in the second half to win 24. 24 (168) to 6.4 (80).

“They played some really good footy,” Lions coach Steve O’Bryan said.

“Our boys probably didn’t play to their ability for the full game which was disappointing but we come away with a win and had 39 shots on goal, so you can’t be too upset.”

O’Bryan said he was “stoked” to get a two-year extension and predicted the Lions could win a flag in the next two years.

“We’ve come a long way but the next two weeks will determine how good we are. Cranny and Beacy want to get one back on us and we have to win on those games to cement a top-three spot.”

Beaconsfield had a fight on its hands against Keysborough until five unanswered goals in the third term created a sizeable gap.

The Eagles won 14.16 (100) to 6. 8 (44). Ex-Frankston VFL captain Shaun Pollard kicked four goals and Scott Meyer three. Pollard, Jayden Gee and Daniel Mislicki were the stand outs.

Doveton had now answer to Cranbourne’s tall forwards Marc Holt and Michael Theodoridis, who kic ked 14 goals between them in a score of 24.8 (152) to 5.4 (34). Skipper Shannon Henwood tried hard to lift his Doves but just didn’t have talent or support.

*This week: ROC v Keysborough, B’field v Tooradin, Hampton Park v Berwick, Doveton v Narre Warren, C’bourne v Pakenham.