AFL 2024: Premiership heroes Heath Shaw and Mark Bickley on the challenge of going back-to-back

Heath Shaw was part of a Collingwood team that played in back-to-back grand finals – a rare feat in recent history. So, what does this Magpies side need to do? JOSH BARNES finds out.

Looking for a hangover cure?

Try running up and down mountains in freezing cold.

Just five weeks after Collingwood’s 2010 premiership breakthrough, the Magpies downed their beers and hit the track in Arizona.

A yearly tradition under Mick Malthouse, the Pies would head over to the United States and train in the thin air in a bid to get an advantage.

That year, they were desperate to avoid any premiership hangover and their post-season break was cut short given the trip was booked before the grand final replay added one week to their schedules.

The Arizona mountains were the start of a back-to-back campaign that did virtually everything right – including leading the 2011 grand final at halftime – but proved how hard it is to win consecutive flags.

The 2010 Magpies training camp in Arizona. Picture: Collingwood FC

The next Collingwood premiership side, Craig McRae’s 2023 heroes, has begun its attempt to be the first black-and-white team to go back-to-back since 1935-56 – but the faint pangs of a hangover headache were on display with an opening-round 32-point loss to GWS Giants on Saturday.

“We booked in six weeks after the grand final so that would give us enough time to be over there for two weeks or so and get back and get another block in,” Pies premiership defender Heath Shaw remembered.

”We had five weeks to enjoy it before we put the kit back on and were running up and down the hills in Arizona.

“Not that we didn’t get to sit back and enjoy it, because obviously the boys went pretty hard in that five weeks we had off, but it was sort of like, (let’s get) straight back into it.

“I think you obviously don’t want a bit of the grand final hangover but the powers that be were mindful of something like that and thought, we want to get straight back into it.”

The Arizona trip worked – Collingwood showed no signs of hangover in the 2011 campaign and would end up losing just three games all year, each to Geelong.

Of course, the third of those losses famously came in the grand final.

Despite entering the year as red-hot favourites, Shaw said the pressure never really got to the players.

“We were very confident in what we can do and back-to-back was obviously something that was talked about from the word go,” he said.

“There was no pressure. The pressure is off after you win a grand final to be honest because we hadn’t won one in 20 years.

“We were just really confident in what we can do and we just went about our business pretty casually.”

Collingwood coach Craig McRae after Saturday’s loss to GWS. Picture: Matt King/AFL Photos

HUNGER AND MOTIVATION

Just 30 of the 126 VFL/AFL flag winners have been repeat premiers and. in the two decades since Leigh Matthews’ brilliant Brisbane Lions side won three in a row, only Hawthorn (2013-15) and Richmond (2019-20) have raised consecutive flags.

Most recently, the last three premiers before Collingwood – Richmond in 2020, Melbourne in 2021 and Geelong the year after – have combined for zero finals wins since lifting their respective cups.

Just one club managed to go back-to-back in the 1990s, with Adelaide snatching wins in 1997-98.

Skipper Mark Bickley found the hunger waned early in 1998 but the confidence remained as September drew closer.

“In ’98 for us, we didn’t have a super year and it is harder early on in the year I found to get really hungry and motivated,” he said.

“But I found as we got closer to the finals, there was this sense of ‘well we have done it before. All we have to do is win four games in a row’ and in ’98 we finished fifth (on the ladder).

“I think you are better placed if you get back to the finals in regards to knowing what is expected, knowing the level required and all of that sort of stuff. Sometimes it is just hard to get back to that solid position again.”

Mark Bickley, right, and Andrew McLeod after the Crows went back-to-back in 1998.

Given McRae’s incredible run of winning tight games in the last two seasons, there will be no shortage of confidence if Collingwood is in the running come Spring.

Bickley believes that wheel of close finishes might turn the other way at some point but he pointed to the young talent as a key, with the Pies able to lean on the likes of Nick Daicos and Bobby Hill.

He pointed to young Crows in the ‘98 team like Andrew McLeod, Simon Goodwin, Tyson Edwards, Mark Ricciuto and Ben Hart as key parts of the premiership teams that would grow into champions.

“When we look back upon that team now, people say ‘why did you finish fourth and fifth when you had so many champions’ but they were all just starting out in their careers,” he said.

THE TRAINING TRACK

Widely expected to be right in the inner-ring of contenders last year, Geelong failed to even make the finals.

For superstar rebounder Tom Stewart, a lot of that came down to a system failure after missing a chance to train over summer months due to the late finish after the 2022 premiership.

“We will be a lot better for having continuity of training together and spending a lot more time actually training our system versus coming off a short run,” Stewart said.

Shaw said the tight turnarounds after consistent finals runs was only a minor factor and a month of extra football held teams in better stead for the next season.

“I don’t think it plays a part at all. Probably the other way round, if you are down the bottom for a long period of time, your pre-season is longer so it is hard work,” he said.

His Magpies returned in red-hot form to start 2011 and finished the year with a 20-2 record and a percentage of 167.7 – the best of any team in the AFL era.

Mick Malthouse and Heath Shaw during their time at Collingwood.

There were some distractions – notably the botched coaching handover between Malthouse and his deputy Nathan Buckley.

A bet on a game sent Shaw off on an eight-game ban late in the year and he was back training in Arizona on his road to playing in the qualifying final.

Years on, The Pies-turned-Giant doesn’t hold regrets about falling short.

“I’m lucky to be a premiership player,” he said.

“I had a few opportunities, 2011 and obviously went to the (GWS) Giants and had a crack there and got absolutely flogged (in the 2019 grand final).

“You are lucky to get to a grand final, let alone win one. I wouldn’t say it is devastating, at that time it probably was because my year was a bit different to everyone elses.

“It would have been good to go back-to-back and send Mick out on a high but it didn’t work out that way and it is what it is.

“You look back now and I don’t think anyone deserves to win a grand final. You either win it or you don’t.”

The whole pack will be chasing Collingwood this season and we will soon know if they avoided their own hangover.

Originally published as AFL 2024: Premiership heroes Heath Shaw and Mark Bickley on the challenge of going back-to-back