Jonathan Brown recalls his favourite footy memories

MANY of my favourite footy memories have a common link — Collingwood, a club I came very close to joining in 2008.

Jonathan Brown

MANY of my favourite footy memories have a common link — Collingwood, a club I came very close to joining in 2008.

Big games, big crowds, big moments and, of course, a couple of premierships involved the Magpies.

Collingwood was a major player during our 2001-03 success. The first time we really drew belief we could win in Melbourne was in 2001. We beat Collingwood in Round 15 by 26 points at the MCG, which was part of us winning 16 in a row to capture the 2001 flag.

We needed to win against a good team at the home of football and that victory was significant with our group.

In 2002, Collingwood was a really good side and in Round 8 we played them at night at Etihad. There was almost 50,000 at the match — the loudest game I have ever played in.

The roof was shut and the noise was almost unbearable. It was nearly impossible to communicate. We got beat by three points and, from that point on, Collingwood was my biggest rival.

Jonathan Brown in action during the 2002 Grand Final. Picture: Herald Sun

I reckon the most significant goal of my career was in the ’02 Grand Final, just before three-quarter-time. We were in a fair bit of trouble and Collingwood could have taken the game away from us in the second half of the third quarter, but they missed a few shots at goal.

Against the run of play, I had a shot from about 45m out on the boundary. It was a moment early in my career that gave me the belief I could survive the pressure of kicking for goal. It was probably my most difficult goal because your guts is churning, you’ve got the weight of the world on your shoulders, so to survive that pressure ... I look back on it fondly.

Then 10 seconds later we won the hit-out, Michael Voss ran straight out of the centre square and kicked a bomb from 60m and all of a sudden we’re back in the game. I feel proud I had a part to play in that.

That was the most important goal I kicked in my career, no doubt. I’ve kicked goals on the siren and those sorts of things, but not in a moment like that.

I reckon I could talk about those Grand Finals forever ... so I will.

The greatest act of courage I’ve ever seen was Nigel Lappin playing with broken ribs and a punctured lung in the 2003 Grand Final. He symbolised what our team was built on — courageous men, tough men and guys who could cope well with pain and still play good footy.

And Lappin was in our best players that day.

Jonathan Brown in the hands of the trainers after being levelled by Scott Burns. Picture: Craig Borrow

And in the ’02 Grand Final I was really close by when Voss got cleaned up by Scott Burns. Vossy bounced up and gave a famous handpass to Simon Black who goaled. Then he went straight back to Burns and said, “Is that as good as you’ve got?” How can you not follow a bloke like that, who just leads by example? That was powerful moment for me.

Collingwood people ask me all the time if Anthony Rocca’s shot was a goal in 2002. I enjoy telling them that, from my angle down the other end, I thought it was a goal. That shot could have changed the course of history!

In reality it looked like it went over the goalpost, but I do enjoy winding up the Collingwood supporters.

In 2003 I’d had a really good finals series. I was only a young player, but I was at the top of my game. I felt like I could really go out and dominate games. I was ready to go in the Grand Final, tear the game apart. Five seconds in and I’m knocked out cold. My legs are all rubbery and it’s not what I dreamt of.

I had no issue with Burns, that’s footy and he was one of the main reasons why Collingwood was so hard to beat.

Magpies supporters hate me saying this, but we were so dominant in that game that Craig McRae said to me 10 minutes into the last quarter: “How good’s Mad Monday going to be”. He was the Mad Monday organiser!

The Collingwood games always gave you that feeling in your gut when you drove to the game, or when you put your head on the pillow the night before a game, you had the butterflies — the expectation.

Saturday night will be no different.