Billy Picken dead: AFL mourns death of Collingwood legend

AFL greats have remembered Magpie favourite Billy Picken, with Eddie McGuire paying a unique tribute at the MCG.

Billy Picken is tackled during a game against Fitzroy in 1983.

Collingwood premiership captain Tony Shaw has remembered former teammate Billy Picken as one of the greatest marks the game has ever seen as Eddie McGuire paid a touching tribute to the Magpies’ Team of the Century player.

Shaw and former Collingwood president McGuire hailed the aerial exploits and big-game credentials of the legendary centre half-back, who died on Saturday at age 66.

Picken played 212 games for the Magpies from 1974-1983 and in 1986 and was a member of the Collingwood Hall of Fame (2006) and Team of the Century (1997).

SCROLL DOWN AND LEAVE YOUR TRIBUTE TO BILLY PICKEN

Former teammate Shaw said Picken had an ability in the air like few others.

“Billy was a great player and it’s horrible to think at 66 years of age that he is not with us any more,” Shaw said on 3AW.

“I think Billy was one of the greatest marks that I have ever seen play the game. I think he nearly took the mark of the week every week.

“We used to do kick-to-kick for 45 minutes before training and everybody would fly for the mark and you would rove but Billy used to jump on heads.

“He was a great wet-weather player. I never saw him tackle very often because he read the ball so well.

“Geez, he was a great player. A great finals player, him and Mark Maclure had some of the greatest contests of all-time. His defence was marking the ball.”

Eddie McGuire hangs Billy Picken's No.25 Collingwood jumper at the MCG. Picture: Collingwood FC Twitter

Former opponent and Carlton legend Maclure said Picken’s death would hit the entire football community.

“I loved Billy,” Maclure said on ABC.

“It’s not just a loss for Collingwood people, it’s a loss for most people who follow football.

“Anyone who follows football, he has passed with a heart attack and I feel for his family.”

McGuire paid a touching tribute to Picken ahead of Sunday’s clash against Essendon at the MCG, hanging the former Magpie champion’s No.25 jumper over the railing in front of where he was seated.

The guernsey was a former jumper of Picken’s from 1979, which had been given to Ian Botham before it was gifted to McGuire.

“It’s actually Billy’s jumper. He gave it back in the day to Ian Botham and Botham has been a mad Collingwood supporter ever since and he gave it to me to give to my son,” McGuire told the Herald Sun.

“I have actually got my old one here from when I was a boy, that I had always kept and my boys were wearing it the last couple of years.

“As a kid, I wore No.6 for Peter McKenna, No.9 for Phil Carman and then No.25 for Bustling Billy Picken.

“I met him when I was about 14 before a training session at Victoria Park before the ’79 Grand Final and he was just absolutely everything you could hope for in a player: he was spectacular, he was determined, he just played his heart out every week.

“He played well in all the big finals, even if we lost the grand final, Billy was just about the best on ground.

“He was magnificent. He was the centre-half-back in the Team of the Century. He was just a great Collingwood person.”

Shaw also recalled how Picken would memorably commentate the play out on the field.

“He would also call himself into a mark,” Shaw said.

“‘Billy Picken coming through, watch out, here comes Billy’.

“I hope some of my ex-teammates are listening now because you would hear that and think, ‘How could he do that when he is going to take a speccy?’ But he would call himself into the ball.”

“He was an amazing player.”

Tributes flow for Collingwood great

– Glenn McFarlane

Collingwood is mourning the loss of one of its favourite sons, high-flying defender Bill Picken, who has died, aged 66.

Picken was one of the club’s most loved players and characters across 212 games and 11 seasons, from 1974-83 and 1986.

He was a dual Copeland Trophy winner and was the father of Western Bulldogs 2016 premiership player Liam Picken.

He also played 28 games in two seasons with Sydney in 1984-85, taking his VFL tally of games to 240 games and 46 goals.

Picken played in five grand finals for Collingwood – 1977 (twice), 1979, 1980 and 1981.

The Magpies failed to win any of those five premiership deciders, but Picken was named in the Magpies’ best players in four of those five GFs, including his team’s best player in the 1979 and 1981 losses to Carlton.

Billy Picken grew beef cattle after his career. Here he shows his support for son Liam before the 2016 Grand Final.

Billy Picken.

His teammate Peter Daicos once referred to Picken as “undoubtedly the best finals player … a superb big-occasion player who played his best football when it counted.”

Picken was a dashing defender, always happy to take some risks in an age when so many other backmen preferred safer measures.

He was a true character who often drove his opponents – and even some of his teammates – to distraction with his constant chatter on the field, including famously commentating his way through games with expressions such as: “Look out, here comes Billy.”

Picken made the Collingwood No. 25 famous with his spring-heeled leaps in an age of the high flyers, being a regular on Mark of the Week segment on Channel 7’s iconic World Of Sport each Sunday.

He twice won the mark of the year award – with a sensational mark in his fourth game against Richmond in 1974 and a soaring leap over St Kilda’s Barry Breen in 1976.

He took a brilliant one-handed mark in his debut game against Carlton in 1974, but it was disallowed by the umpire.

One of his other classic grabs came over one of his great rivals Mark Maclure in the 1979 grand final.

Former teammate Tony Shaw said: “He (Picken) was one of the best marks I’ve ever seen. He could take them from any position – in front, running back into packs and over the top.”

Picken’s two Copeland Trophies came in 1978 and 1983. Such was his consistency that he was placed in the best and fairest on four other occasions.

Tom Hafey and Billy Picken watch a training session.

Billy Picken at the tribunal in 1979.

Former Collingwood president Eddie McGuire said Picken’s loss would be deeply felt by his former teammates and scores of Magpie fans who dearly loved the star centre half-back.

“Everyone loved Billy,” McGuire said. “I first met him when I was a kid who went down to Victoria Park before the 1979 grand final. He was such a great bloke and a great player.

“I went with (Peter) McKenna (No. 6), (Phil) Carman (No. 9) and (Bill) Picken (No. 25) in my jumper selection as a kid. They were the guys we all wanted to be like.”

Picken had been recruited to Victoria Park after starring in a combined Western Border Football League team against the Magpies’ under-19s side.

He became one of the best centre half-backs in the game, winning selection as a half-back flanker in Collingwood’s team of the century.

Sadly, a pay dispute saw Picken join the Swans in 1984, the year after he won the best and fairest, where he played for two seasons.

But it was fitting he returned to Victoria Park for one more season in 1986, where he played five more games in the unfamiliar No. 2 jumper.

Picken’s grand final heartbreak was at least partly soothed by the fact that his son, Liam, played such a huge part of the Bulldogs’ 2016 premiership fairytale.

Another son, Marcus, also played for Brisbane.

Originally published as Billy Picken dead: AFL mourns death of Collingwood legend