‘Never talked about this’: The power struggle that moved a Collingwood great to tears

To be afforded the honour of a team photo with the Collingwood Football Club you have to be either wealthy, connected, influential or lucky.

The entire team assembles in the soaring space that houses the team gym at the club’s AIA Vitality Centre headquarters at Olympic Park. Once it was the swimming stadium at the 1956 Melbourne Olympics, but now the bleachers where rapturous crowds watched Dawn Fraser break a world record, are covered by a massive sign: #GOPIES.

For team photo day, as in all things, modern Collingwood strives for modern efficiency. The lucky invited civilians get strict instructions: sit down promptly, don’t chat, don’t ask for autographs and don’t slow things down. But no one is going to hurry along a rabbi.

Magpies fanatic Yaakov Glasman, AM, whose grandparents ran a milk bar in Collingwood after arriving as Holocaust survivors, walked towards the team with his teenage son when his passion overwhelmed.

Barry Carp took the Collingwood presidential reins from Jeff Browne.Credit: Joe Armao

“I’m a rabbi,” Glasman said, looking at the assembled team as captain Darcy Moore leaned forward to listen. “I believe in heaven – and this is what it looks like!”

The team roared in approval and Glasman, senior rabbi of the St Kilda Hebrew Congregation, had a priceless memento for his office wall alongside his photos with political leaders and heads of state.

“As we got up to leave [coach] Craig McRae shook my hand and said, ‘thank you for your enthusiasm’. He really appreciated that,” said Glasman, satisfied.

It is not just rabbis, or other faith leaders, such as Major Brendan Nottle of the Salvation Army, who are passionate for Collingwood. The club Melburnians love to hate has no shortage of prominent members.

Rabbi Yaakov Glasman with then-Victorian premier Dan Andrews in 2019.Credit: Meta

Victoria Racing Club president Neil Wilson says he was briefly part of the Pies’ cheer squad in his youth and helped make the giant banners the team ran through before a match at Victoria Park. Becoming a board member, which he did for a short period, was a “lifelong dream”.

Another former board member, ex-lord mayor Sally Capp, said her family rule was, “You don’t eat and you don’t sleep in the house unless you barrack for Collingwood.” Old boyfriends who didn’t support the team “received the same family delight” as her now husband and avowed Pies supporter did when they first met.

But gone are the days when billionaires such as ex-vice president and investor Alex Waislitz would reportedly donate $10 million to the club and throw open his mansion to host its important fundraisers. The club simply doesn’t need them.

So who does call the shots? Experts say the club doesn’t have an oligarchy, although players from the 1990 and 2010 premiership victories are significant. This is in part because the club’s record 110,628 members, brought in an astonishing $40 million in membership and ticketing revenue last year.

Collingwood likes to say it is the club that relies the least on AFL assistance. And it boasts 19 different membership tiers.

The choices online are dizzying: a Baby Magpie membership ($85 annually, no match access, Baby Magpie pack, 10 per cent off at the gift shop) to a Club 1892 membership (from $1999 annually, reserved seating for home games, access to finals if Collingwood participates, priority one access to the grand final, if Collingwood make it that far).

There is the official club coterie The Woodsmen (women can join), a group of business executives that hosts match functions and has raised $10 million over 50 years. A diamond package costs $19,350 annually and includes four memberships with guaranteed seating plus the prized feature – premium car parking.

Then there is the Collingwood membership group you won’t read about: The Insiders, a select group of about 15 members who spend about $30,000 annually for the privilege.

This money includes a (tax-deductible) donation to the Collingwood Foundation.

Privileges include a photo with the team each year, the right to stay at the team hotel during interstate trips, special briefings from the coach and rare access to the coach’s box.

Members over the years have included ex-captain Nick Maxwell, who led the Pies to the flag in 2010, ex-player Chris Tarrant, Bryan Dorman, a director of the Regis nursing home group, media lawyer David Poulton and current Collingwood president Barry Carp. Rabbi Glasman is not an Insider, but one of his congregants at St Kilda, banker Stephen Shostak, was in 2023 when he gifted the team photo op to his rabbi.

The club also benefits from its Future Fund, a nest egg born after it divested its electronic gaming machine licences in 2018. Its current value is about $24 million.

Nick Maxwell holds aloft the 2010 premiership cup.Credit: Paul Rovere

So money appears not to be a pressing concern. But over its recent history, Collingwood’s board and club had to grapple with a more destructive force – the untempered passions within. The tumult peaked in 2021, Collingwood’s year of four presidents – Eddie McGuire, Mark Korda, Peter Murphy and Jeff Browne.

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It’s Thursday night at the MCG, Collingwood’s annual grudge match against Carlton for the Peter Mac Cup. Pre-match, in the famous Olympic Room, the club is crammed with more than 600 people for the president’s dinner.

It is a time for reconciliation. New president Barry Carp has decided to reach out and invite former president Eddie McGuire – the first time McGuire has attended since he abruptly quit the post in 2021 after 22 years, following criticism of his response to the Do Better report into historical racism at the club, which he commissioned. A few days earlier, McGuire had explained why he largely stayed away all these years: “I didn’t want to be the ex-boyfriend at the wedding.”

The room is so packed it is hard to find the point of focus. In the centre is a long table, No.17, where Carp and his forceful chief executive Craig Kelly sit, close to Barry Brown, divisional vice president Australasia of key sponsor Emirates. A model Emirates Boeing 777 on every table spruiks the airline’s revamped daily Melbourne-Dubai service.

Collingwood is hosting the Carlton hierarchy and at the very end of table 17. Two figures are hunched in conversation – former Labor minister and Collingwood diehard Stephen Conroy chats to former Liberal treasurer and Carlton diehard Josh Frydenberg.

Former lord mayor Sally Capp doesn’t tolerate allegiances other than Collingwood.Credit: Simon Schluter

But two vital club figures are not at the top table. Nearby, Collingwood co-vice-president Jodie Sizer hosts her own table, sitting next to her mother. She is the co-chair of the club’s expert committee on anti-racism and the board member who helped commission the Do Better report into racism at Collingwood.

At another table is co-vice-president Paul Licuria, the two-time club best-and-fairest winner who played in grand finals in the early 2000s. He survived the year of four presidents in 2021 when passions overwhelmed, and the team slumped on the field amid board infighting and executive discord. McGuire departed, coach and club legend Nathan Buckley departed mid-season and a public campaign eventually led to the election of media executive Browne.

McGuire spots us and heads over. He and Licuria shake hands; it feels emotional and a bit awkward.

“Collingwood is not just a club, it’s a concept, a purpose, a life-driver,” McGuire says, magnificently articulate. “For a lot of people it is the biggest moment of their week, and we never forget that at Collingwood.”

“It gave me a sense of identity as a son of immigrants and to be a part of something – and I have watched that happen for generations of kids.”

Licuria looks at McGuire and says softly, “It’s good to see you, Ed.”

Eddie McGuire resigned from the Collingwood presidency in early 2021.Credit: Joe Armao

The opening bounce is fast approaching. McGuire says bluntly what it seems the entire room is thinking. “Now, let’s go and beat these pricks.”

Collingwood win 63 to 46.

It is impossible to imagine the AFL without the Magpies. No team has won more premierships (no team has lost more either). The working class/immigrant/Catholic/Labor/Irish suburb that produced a team that gave hope to the working poor. They’re the team that everyone loves to hate, but can’t ignore. A story might be destined for page 17, but just add Collingwood and it’s on page one. Can we please get Mason Cox and any Daicos to our red carpet event?

Notable team supporters are numerous: former prime minister Paul Keating, former premier John Brumby, model Miranda Kerr, comedian Merrick Watts, recording artist Darryl Braithwaite. And there’s no shortage of global celebrities donning Pies jerseys in photo archives despite uncertain devotion: Martina Hingis, Dwayne Johnson, Rob Lowe, Ian Botham and even Rowan Atkinson, aka Mr Bean.

Actor Rob Lowe sings the Collingwood song in 2003 with then-coach Mick Malthouse, Paul Licuria and McGuire.Credit: Vince Caliguri

“There are no real powerbrokers,” says Melbourne businessman Francis Galbally, a member of the noted legal family with multi-generational and influential ties to Collingwood.

Galbally was a key figure behind the anti-McGuire insurgency, who wanted media executive Browne installed as president over restructuring expert Korda.

During that period, Galbally and others had a command centre “running like an election campaign”.

“I am very happy, I have stepped back and I am just a supporter and a fan,” said Galbally, speaking approvingly of constitutional changes to elections, board term limits and a more regulated board selection process.

“Eddie McGuire in my view was perhaps the best president we ever had, but Jeff was an agent of change and the change secured a premiership [in 2023] and maybe more.

“We won a grand final and I think we will win another one with this group.”

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Collingwood hall-of-famer Licuria meets at 7.15am at a cafe near Olympic Park because he is a busy man, a director of an online education and retraining provider as well as co-vice president of the Pies.

He talks about how McGuire put him on the board, removing barriers, helping interstate players find local accommodation, managing the board and executive and supporter egos and the importance of not ringing players or coaches.

“My role is to remove barriers – how do I help you be better?

“If you’re over-passionate about something, then you can become a problem because you get in the way.”

Halfway through our time together his eyes well up with tears.

“I have never really spoken to anyone about that … the whole Eddie McGuire era when he transitioned out was the worst time I’ve ever experienced in football.

“It actually makes me emotional.”

He pauses.

“Yeah, it was bad. Because it had the potential to ruin 25 years of friendships with people.

Paul Licuria and Nathan Buckley after a win in 2002.Credit: Getty Images

“Passion came out. Meanwhile, we’re losing games of football. We’ve got a coach who was my captain, who wasn’t performing. We had no success on the football field.

“So it’s really hard because you’re trying to stay focused, stay in your lane.”

He talks of suggestions, attempts to organise clandestine coffee meetings, advice, suggestions.

“People go to survival mode a bit. And I’ve seen it as a player, when we’re not playing well, it’s really easy for players and coaches to go into survival mode and worry about themselves. Same thing happened on the board.

“Time will heal, but it was the worst time of my life. People got so hurt that then they hated the club. Right until today.”

Licuria has to drive to Geelong. He doesn’t want to finish the conversation like this. He pulls out a pocketbook where he has written down some thoughts. He reads it aloud.

“The club’s taught me the need to put your heart and soul into everything you do, your family, your friends and your football. You earn respect by being honest, having integrity, and helping your teammate be the best they can be.

“The club’s given me a sense of belonging and purpose that sometimes I wonder if I would have had anywhere else.”

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Billionaire investor Alex Waislitz also feels that belonging. Young Jewish men tended to support Melbourne, or, as his father did, Carlton. “Like with most things in life, I chose my own path,” says Waislitz, a Collingwood board member for 23 years, 12 as vice-president during the McGuire era, the man he credits as the major reason for the club’s continuing success.

Nowadays, he attends matches out in the open with his children and brother and his family.

“I make a point of watching or listening to every Collingwood game live – no matter where I am in the world,” he writes in an email from overseas.

Waislitz reportedly donated $10 million to the club over the years, but he doesn’t confirm the figure.

“I did contribute many millions of dollars to the club through donations, support of events and the club’s philanthropic programs, namely the Magpies Nest.”

And his foundation still supports the Clontarf Foundation and The Salvation Army today.

The parties he threw for the club were legendary, he says they were safe environments for players and officials to enjoy themselves.

“Relationships are fundamental to business and life. These events were also important relationship building exercises,” he writes.

“The Collingwood Football Club has been so good to me. It has given me so much more than I ever thought possible. I want that connection and that experience to continue for future generations.”

Champion swimmer (and Pies president) Carp holds 12 state and national swimming records. About four months into his presidency, he suggests we walk and talk around the training oval. He emphasises authenticity, stability and continuity.

“The club has the overall mantra of connect, win and grow.”

For Carp, whose family have been Legends members and who was an exclusive Insider member in earlier years, that means formalising Collingwood’s development academy, so people leave the club better than when they arrive. He wants to invest in member facilities at both the club’s training centre and also the spiritual home at Victoria Park. Collingwood’s relationship with the MCG must be renewed, a major piece of work.

“I have been making a theme at our functions of standing on the shoulders of giants.”

He jokes that his predecessor Browne was entirely inaccurate during his handover. “Jeff said it would be an hour or two a week. It’s a little bit more than that. [But] it’s a joy and a passion.”

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Over a video chat from her home in Torquay, Sizer, a Djab Wurrung and Gunditjmara woman and chief executive of the Great Ocean Road Parks and Coast Authority, who was invited onto the board by McGuire, openly discusses the club’s issues with racism.

“We knew that we wanted our relationship with Aboriginal Australia to be better and needed to be better,” she says.

Jodie Sizer, Jeff Browne and former player Leon Davis.Credit: Jamie Brown

“We needed to stand up and own our own history because everyone talked about it in our circles, and it really tarnished the modern organisation. And until they owned their own history it was hard to move forward.

“At the end of the day, great organisations, that’s what wins premierships. It doesn’t come the other way around. I look at other clubs across the field, you can just see that on-field, performance is impacted by organisations that are not as functional.”

Then-premier John Brumby, a Pies fan, has his car washed by Cats fans Rob Hulls and Tim Holding after winning a bet that Collingwood would beat Geelong.Credit: Rebecca Hallas

The club has learnt from its challenges. “We’re really in an incredible chapter. I think about Bunjil and our spirit creator.

“I know that we’re the Magpie, but it really feels like we’re in a moment of soaring.”

Browne, who is in remission from blood cancer, is talking over the phone about the soft power and influence of Collingwood players. He names the ones you expect – Moore, Scott Pendlebury, Steele Sidebottom, Jeremy Howe, Jamie Elliott – and one you don’t.

“A person who became very valuable in setting the culture, and this may surprise you, was Jordan De Goey.”

This is surprising, considering De Goey’s previous trail of nightclub incidents, arrests, fines and enforced Salvation Army work stints.

Jordan De Goey, pictured with the 2023 premiership cup, turned his life around. Credit: Joe Armao

“[Because of] the way he turned himself into a complete professional, a total professional athlete,” Browne explains.

“He realised what he wanted most of all was to be a successful AFL player. I think it is fair to say there was some rethinking.”

Browne says one of his biggest coups was to bring on “Ned” Kelly – part of the still influential 1990 crew – as CEO. The former backman was already one of the most powerful people in football and at Collingwood, having founded and run talent management firm TLA, which had more than 300 AFL players and coaches, including McRae, on its books.

Craig Kelly gets a hero’s farewell for his final game for Collingwood.Credit: Getty Images

For the moment, like McGuire before him, Browne is barracking from the stands and staying away from official functions, despite knowing he is welcome.

“The greatest joy in that time was … actually, building for our premiership. To be able to bring that sort of joy and happiness to so many people who love our club, that was a real privilege, and I found that very humbling and very satisfying.”

Browne, who is in remission, is devoting much time to Myeloma Australia, where he is chair, and now feels positive when he visits his clinician at the Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre.

“When the lift door opens … and I see a teenage girl standing there with no hair, in her pyjamas, carrying a bag with cannula in her arm, going down to the cafe for a coffee, I just know that I’ve got to do something to help.”

He’s found a new passion.