Ignore the haters, retired premiership captain Nick Maxwell a Collingwood great
YOU wouldn’t know it from the Maxwell bashers on social media. Or from Matthew Scarlett. But Nick Maxwell deserves his place in Collingwood history.
Glenn McFarlane
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NICK Maxwell was humbled, almost embarrassed, even though he had no right to be.
It was early 2011, and in the dizzy afterglow of Collingwood’s 15th VFL-AFL premiership, the Herald Sun gathered together the four living Magpies’ premiership captains for an iconic photograph.
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Maxwell was almost reluctant only in terms of his own stature in the game, though honoured at the same time.
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“You have to pinch yourself being in the same room and knowing you have been able to achieve something they did (captaining a premiership side),’’ Maxwell said at the time. “Obviously, you never hold yourself in the same breath as these guys.
“They are so famous for what they have done for the Collingwood Football Club. Just to be here together with them is a big honour.”
Now that Maxwell has joined the likes of Lou Richards (1953), Murray Weideman (1958) and Tony Shaw (1990) in post-football life, it’s worth remembering the fact that the footballer who divided fans — some of them even Magpie supporters — remains in rarefied football company.
You wouldn’t know that from some of the misguided football blogs that exist about him, or the Facebook account that was titled “Nick Maxwell is the worst premiership captain in AFL history” that once had 11,000 likes.
Or even the Maxwell bashers who light up Twitter or talkback with vitriol whenever they get the chance.
You wouldn’t even know it from former Geelong champion Matthew Scarlett’s scathing assessment of Maxwell as a player and a leader in his autobiography.
Scarlett wrote: “None of our players had any respect for Maxwell. We hated how he was being compared to Tom Harley. It was simply wrong.”
Respect? Well, that’s a subjective thing.
Both Maxwell’s and Harley’s contributions as leaders outweighs their output as footballers (albeit both were more than good players), and there is no shame in that.
Tellingly, the pair provided a leadership pathway to success when their clubs desperately needed it.
And while Maxwell might not have been the player that Richards, Weideman and Shaw were in wearing the black and white, it is not a stretch to suggest that the 2010 premiership cup might not be sitting in the Westpac Centre at this very moment without his considerable input — on and off the field.
A rookie who was overlooked by some clubs and who willed himself to become an All-Australian, Maxwell was critical to Collingwood’s success.
If anyone needed reminding about Maxwell’s on-field contribution in that 2010 drawn Grand Final, it’s worth a revisit — unless, of course, if you are a Saints fan.
Two inspiring acts in the space of four minutes in that dramatic last quarter helped to save the game, and the flag.
The first was a desperate lunge and spoil on the goal line with seven minutes and 39 seconds left that stopped a certain Nick Riewoldt goal.
The second was a towering intercept mark across the front of Sam Gilbert with less than four minutes left. In playing on, Maxwell started a chain that result in Collingwood’s last goal of a game that had been slipping from its grasp.
Without those efforts, it is doubtful Collingwood would have been able to win the flag a week later.
All four of those living Magpie premiership captains made significant contributions in those Grand Finals.
Shaw won the 1990 Norm Smith Medal, Weideman helped to put a seemingly unbeatable Melbourne off its game in 1958 and the Magpies reaped the rewards. And Richards kicked crucial goal and was in the best in 1953.
Currently, Maxwell sits 30th in terms of games played for Collingwood. But in his contribution — and passion — on and off the field ranks even higher.
Sure, he had to fight for his footy survival throughout his career, none more so than this year, when he handed over the captaincy to Scott Pendlebury.
Yet, before injury intervened, he showed why he remained an important part of the Magpies’ jigsaw puzzle to the very end, and the club will be poorer without him.
It’s OK for people to judge Maxwell the player whatever way they want.
But to deny his impact on Collingwood as a leader in the post-Nathan Buckley (playing) era is simply a revision of history. And patently wrong.
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