Buckley Gets The Nod As The Best Magpie I've Seen

The Age

Friday May 18, 2007

Tony Shaw

Nathan Buckley's insatiable quest to improve places him in the top Magpies of all time

SOME practices in football are fraught with danger and leave us open to ridicule - and I'm not talking about on-field practices. They include predicting the ladder before the season starts, tipping eight winners each week and nominating the greatest player at your club. All, of course, stimulate great debate within the football community.

The ladder and tipping are guesses, but I have no doubt about who is the greatest footballer I have come across in my now 36-year association with Collingwood Football Club.

I have compiled two lists - the best five Pies I have seen, and the best five of all time. As a kid of 10, I cried at the Magpies' 1970 grand final loss to Carlton, so that is where I started my list of the greatest I have seen. Here it is:

Darren Millane is the fifth-best Collingwood player of the past 36 years. The "Raging Bull", or "Pants" as he was better known, made a statement the first day he walked into the club. He was wearing psychedelic tracksuit pants, hence the nickname, which showed his unfaltering confidence in himself.

He had walked out on Hawthorn, the family club, after training there briefly, fearless and never intimidated. And he was as loyal as they come to his teammates, despite occasional lapses in discipline.

I still miss his enthusiasm, charm and character and I have no doubt Darren would have coped easily with the playing style of today.

Peter McKenna is No. 4. "Macca" averaged just over 4.5 goals per game in an era of great full-forwards and talented and sometimes brutal full-backs. Wes Lofts, Vin Waite, Ray Biffin and, later, Geoff Southby and Kelvin Moore were some of his adversaries.

Quick off the mark, tall, and with great hands, to see him take off at full speed for a Barry Price or Wayne Richardson rocket was a joy to watch.

McKenna is the best kick for goal I have seen in AFL/VFL history. The number of times I saw him kick a goal in front of the Collingwood social club - the wrong side for a right-footer - bordered on the ridiculous.

Len Thompson comes in at No. 3. A five-time Copeland Trophy winner and Brownlow medallist, he was a ruckman before his time with extraordinary agility, athleticism, skill and fitness. He played against some of the toughest ruckmen the game has produced, including John Nicholls and Carl Ditterich.

"Thommo's" palming skills and verve in the midfield was like watching an artist ply his trade. Even though he had some off-field problems with the club, he never lost his love for Collingwood and is one of the club's greats.

Peter Daicos is a shoe-in at No. 2. This man had more ability in his little toe than I had in my entire body. I know he was of Macedonian descent, but "Daics" had the sublime skills of some of the game's best Aboriginal players.

Low to the ground, beautifully balanced, he could turn onto either side of his body and kick either foot so adroitly you wouldn't know which was his dominant side. "Bad angles" were not part of his vocabulary.

People forget that Daics started as a midfielder but was cut down in his prime with a knee injury and then became one of the most dangerous and productive small forwards the game has seen. In 1990, he kicked a career-high 97 goals in a premiership year playing as nearly a genuine full-forward. He was a star.

I have no hesitation, despite the talent available over the past 40 years, in naming Nathan Buckley as the greatest Collingwood player I have seen.

Since his somewhat controversial defection from Brisbane after one season, I believe Nathan has set playing and preparation standards that will stand apart even in the future. A big statement, but the combination of excellence in both areas is a footballer's never-ending quest and one that only few greats achieve.

It's hard to believe but Nathan wasn't an elite athlete. I remember doing multiple 400-metre runs, pulling up to Nathan's shoulder and running past making while exaggerated breathing noises and saying: "I'm having an asthma attack but I'll get over it." Nathan would throw elbows at me as his competitive spirit kicked in.

I played only one real season with him and saw a future but much maligned champion in the making. I was amazed at the unwarranted vitriol directed at Nathan from opposing supporters. He was branded as arrogant and the term FIGJAM was floated in football circles.

What people failed to see was that Nathan hated losing and would play every day if he could instead of training, such was his love for the game. If this was arrogance, give me 22 players with it. I must confess that, at times, I didn't help Nathan's development in this area when I was putting wins above development.

I over-utilised Nathan's abilities to the detriment of him and the group. I asked him to fill too many roles because of my own egotistical goals.

Nathan wasn't perfect and had to learn two major lessons. One, not all his teammates had his abilities and he needed to cope with this better; and two, because he was in control of his own game, he needed to embrace the group's frailties.

Nathan wasn't a great captain straight away. I dragged him on numerous occasions when he showed frustration towards teammates. I'd ask him if he knew why and when he admitted his actions, I'd put him straight back on. Now into his ninth year as captain, I have watched him grow into a great leader, something I believe he would have much pride in along with his playing accomplishments.

It's a sad fact of our club that so many of our greats didn't experience premiership success. It would be fitting for Nathan Buckley, the greatest player of my time at the Collingwood Football Club, to hold up the premiership cup.

Tony Shaw's column appears every Friday

SHAW'S TOP 5 . . .

... MAGPIES EVER

1 BOB ROSE

1946-55 Games 152, goals 214

Best and fairest 1949, 1951-53; premiership side 1953; leading club goalkicker 1953; All-Australian 1953; club team of the century; Australian Football Hall of Fame member

2 NATHAN BUCKLEY

1994- (Brisbane 1993) Games 275, goals 282

Brownlow Medal 2003; best and fairest 1994, 1996, 1998-2000, 2003; captain since 1999; Norm Smith Medal 2002; All-Australian 1996-2001, 2003; club team of the century; AFL Rising Star 1993

3 GORDON COVENTRY

1920-37 Games 306, goals1299

Best and fairest 1933; premiership sides 1927-30, 1935; leading AFL goalkicker 1926-30, 1937; leading club goalkicker 1922-37; club team of the century; Australian Football Hall of Fame member

4 DES FOTHERGILL

1937-40, 1945-47 Games 111, goals 337

Brownlow Medal 1940; best and fairest 1937-38, 1940; leading club goalkicker 1940, 1945-46

5 ALBERT COLLIER

1925-39 (Fitzroy 1941-42) Games 217, goals 66

Brownlow Medal 1929; best and fairest 1929, 1934-35; premiership sides 1927-30, 1935-36; club team of the century; Australian Football Hall of Fame member

... MAGPIES HE HAS SEEN

1 NATHAN BUCKLEY

2 PETER DAICOS

1979-93 Games 250, goals 549

Best and fairest 1982, 1988; premiership player 1990; leading club goalkicker 1981-82, 1990-92; All-Australian 1982, 1988, 1990; club team of the century; Australian Football Hall of Fame member

3 LEN THOMPSON

1965-78 (Sydney 1979, Fitzroy 1980)

Games 301, goals 275

Brownlow Medal 1972; best and fairest 1967-68, 1972-73, 1977; All-Australian 1972; captain 1978; club team of the century; Australian Football Hall of Fame member

4 PETER McKENNA

1965-75 (Carlton 1977) Games 191, goals 874

Best and fairest 1970; Coleman medallist 1972-73; leading club goalkicker 1967-74; All-Australian 1972

5 DARREN MILLANE

1984-91 Games 147, goals 78

Best and fairest 1987; premiership player 1990; All-

Australian 1990; AFLPA MVP 1990

© 2007 The Age

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