How Collingwood captain Darcy Moore became footy’s new statesman
Darcy Moore made national headlines with his stunning Anzac Day speech. It was an insight into the different world of the Collingwood captain who is forging a unique path to the top.
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Eddie McGuire was in Berlin when he got a call from Brodie Grundy. He was in town and wanted to catch up.
The German capital wasn’t your typical holiday destination for AFL footballers who on mass gravitated more to Las Vegas or Bali to unwind after a long season.
But Grundy had a different take on things and when the pair sat down to sample the fine local product, the ruckman made a revelation.
“We sat down and he explained how there was a bit of a group called the GGs at Collingwood,” McGuire said.
“I was like the GGs, what is this? A betting group? That’s all we need. He said, ‘Nah, it’s the Good Guys’.”
Given during his tenure as Collingwood president he’d had to deal with an infamous group in the playing ranks called ‘The Rat Pack’, McGuire was intrigued.
“I said tell me more about this and he said we loved the club, we want to do things, we want to embrace the community, all these different things and it was like the speech you have to usually give to players but he’s giving it back to me,” McGuire said.
The founding members of the GGs were Grundy and his two close friends Jamie Elliott and Darcy Moore.
Fast forward to Anzac Day, 2023, and Moore, the Collingwood captain, is striding to the microphone after the Pies’ 13-point win over Essendon.
McGuire is in the stands and has an overwhelming sense of pride flush over him because he knew what was about to happen.
He’d known Darcy since he was a kid who was a regular in the Collingwood rooms before games, sitting quietly in the corner taking everything in and then sometimes having a kick-to-kick with coach Mick Malthouse.
McGuire would also often watch games next to Darcy’s father Peter, a former Collingwood captain and two-time Brownlow medallist.
“When he steps to the microphone he actually has something to say,” McGuire said.
“He knew the significance (of the day), he is a very well-educated, intelligent person who has got a great EQ, emotional quota.
“He has a tremendous feel for his friends, family and colleagues around him. He is a giver.”
Moore’s Anzac Day speech was a jaw-dropping moment for many, not just in the football world, but it reverberated far and wide throughout the community.
“No matter whether you wear the black and white stripes or the red sash, this game is about so much more than four points. So you turning up today and showing your support means a lot and we’re incredibly proud to play our part in this game,” Moore said.
He then went on to pay tribute to all the men and women serving for our country, both home and abroad, in war and peacekeeping operations. He mentioned the 600,000 war veterans and also gave a shout out to the families of serving soldiers and veterans.
“Too often your stories go untold and on behalf of the Collingwood footy club, we just want to acknowledge the pain of war that runs through so many families across the country,” Moore said. “It’s a real honour for us to run out here and play our game in honour of you and your service.”
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The following morning McGuire was again moved when he switched on Channel 9’s Today Show to find Karl Stefanovic waxing lyrical about Moore’s incredible speech.
“Who is this guy? He should be in parliament,” Stefanovic said.
A week earlier Moore had been praised for his role in a healing ceremony at Victoria Park, marking 30 years since Nicky Winmar’s stance against racism at the same venue.
Moore attended alongside Collingwood president Jeff Browne and wasn’t expected to make a speech but was asked by Winmar to say a few words.
If that speech was the only thing Darcy Moore ever did as an AFL player, he could retire happy. #AFLPiesDons
— David Zita (@DavidZita1) April 25, 2023
Darcy Moore. Such an impressive leader. This is the best Anzac Day speech from a skipper I’ve heard. #aflpiesbombers
— Nat Edwards (@Nat_Edwards) April 25, 2023
Nick Daicos should ask Darcy Moore to write his Brownlow speech
— bouledogues de l'ouest (@gameof4quarters) July 7, 2023
“This man has an extraordinary legacy and he’s had a powerful impact on so many of us here,” Moore said after he embraced the St Kilda champion.
“Seeing the young ones here today just really inspires me to keep working towards a shared future where we can all walk together in strength and solidarity. It‘s an honour to be here.”
It was again on point, from the heart and delivered with sincerity. It didn‘t surprise the AFL hierarchy who had been similarly blown away by Moore at the annual captain’s breakfast before the season launch.
He had replaced Scott Pendlebury at the table and was instantly dubbed “footy’s new statesman” after revealing a deep understanding of the game and the plight of the players to league bosses.
Moore’s agent Liam Pickering said the Anzac Day speech in particular “opened the eyes of everyone else” about the special qualities of the Magpies defender.
“People who know he’s with us were ringing me up to say, ‘Gee, he’s impressive’,” Pickering said.
“Most people even if they don’t barrack for Collingwood and couldn’t stand them, they’re now begrudgingly saying they’re good to watch because of the way they play, they’ve got a great young coach and a great young captain.”
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Craig McRae leant over the kitchen table and whispered in the ear of his seven-year-old daughter Charlie.
“Darcy is going to be the captain of Collingwood,” he said.
His daughter looked up at the giant man sitting at the other end of the table and blurted out: “Dad, does he know?”
Moore actually didn’t officially know until that interaction between McRae and his daughter. He’d been invited around to the coach’s house for dinner so he had a fair idea something significant was in the wind.
The pair had known each other for a long time with McRae the head of development at Collingwood when Moore would come in during his school holidays and train at the club.
He was a member of the Peter Daicos Academy which was set up to engage Collingwood past players and give their children the opportunity to connect with the club.
“I would spend a couple of days with him on school holidays working on his kicking and things and then when he played in the national championships I would go down and watch him, critique his game and then watch footage of him,” McRae said.
“He already had this leadership part to him, he was school captain (at Carey Grammar) and got something like 99.6 (ATAR score).”
Moore had started school earlier than most so had already completed his first year of commerce at Melbourne University before he was drafted to the Pies as a father-son selection at No. 9 in the 2014 national draft.
He cut back to studying part-time in his first season but decided to do a summer semester, squeezing 12 weeks of study into six, to stay on top of things.
Even now when he’s captain of the club and one of the best players in the competition, Moore still has his head in the books and is currently studying international relations.
As Pickering says, he’s not just “living the footballer’s life”.
“When I first met Darc I would have thought footy wasn’t the be all and end all,” Pickering said.
“Some footballers just live and breathe footy, he has got so many other things outside of playing going on.
“He is a guy that has a whole heap of other stuff that he wants to achieve in his life and he throws himself into it.”
Moore is on the AFLPA board and along with president Patrick Dangerfield is devoting a lot of his time to achieving a new pay deal for his comrades.
“He’s not going to be wanting for a role after footy,” Pickering said. “There is no real cap on him in so far as what he can achieve on and off the field.”
Moore was fortunate to have travelled the world when he was younger with his three sisters. Peter, a former commercial lawyer, has long had business interests in the US and runs a company which is drilling for gold in the hills of Nevada.
The youngest of his sisters, Grace, lived in New York for a while and also spent time modelling in Milan. She is now a filmmaker based in Fitzroy.
It’s not unusual for Moore to be at a theatre show on a Tuesday night or doing a favour for one of the charities he’s been involved with along the journey.
“He has got real social awareness and really steps into that,” McRae said.
“He feels obliged somewhat, part of him wants to have social justice so when there is an opportunity to express his feelings about that it comes through strongly and authentically.
“He is a heavy reader and constantly trying to better himself and he has a great balance. A lot of us can learn a few things from him, the escape from the game he does that well.”
McRae’s advice to Moore, 27, when he appointed him captain to replace Pendlebury, who’d had nine years in the job, was to “don’t be anyone other than yourself”.
When asked how he would describe Moore’s leadership style, the Pies coach pauses: “I can’t recall or think of someone who comes to mind that has got his presence.
“He’s not a person whose voice becomes thinned out due to overuse, he’s not that at all but when he speaks he has presence.”
Like most GGs.
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