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Collingwood chief executive Craig Kelly was with football manager Graham Wright in the middle of the MCG, along with footy father of the year Peter Daicos, soaking up the Magpies\u2019 premiership late on Saturday afternoon, when it suddenly occurred to Kelly that they were standing on the same spot that they had together in 1990 as premiership players themselves.<\/p>\n
Also with them in 1990 was Denis Banks, who was not out there on Saturday, but did bob up \u2013 along with 20,000 others \u2013 at Collingwood\u2019s celebration at the AIA Vitality Centre on Sunday. Alongside them, too, in 1990 was the late Darren Millane. Kelly has a framed picture of the quintet in his office.<\/p>\n
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Collingwood\u2019s 1990 premiership team at their 20-year reunion in 2010.<\/span>Credit: <\/span>Pat Scala<\/cite><\/p>\n The 1990 win was the breaking of a 32-year drought and the celebrations were riotous. This one has more of a sense footy\u2019s biggest club righting itself again. \u201cI was just saying to my wife this morning that I\u2019m probably enjoying this one more than 1990, weirdly enough\u201d said Kelly. \u201cYou\u2019re 22 years old, you think it\u2019s just going to happen again. It doesn\u2019t happen again.\u201d<\/p>\n Wright agreed. As a player, he said, \u201cyou worried about where\u2019s the next beer\u201d. In his role now, he worries about everyone \u2013 and thing \u2013 else. \u201cThe excitement\u2019s the same, but it is different,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n Daicos senior\u2019s priceless footy IP was a readymade source for his sons on Saturday. \u201cI lean on Dad a lot, and that was one thing, the experience of playing in grand finals,\u201d said the precocious Nick. \u201cHe just said to me that once the game starts, you know what to do and the team knows what to do, and it\u2019s just another game.\u201d<\/p>\n And so it was, just another Collingwood game in the Craig McRae era: Daicos starred and the Magpies won by less than a kick. All that junior of the Daicos juniors noticed was that the half-time break was longer than usual.<\/p>\n The Daicos boys, Nick and Josh, with the 2023 premiership cup.<\/span>Credit: <\/span>Getty Images<\/cite><\/p>\n Collingwood are in a league of their own in three aspects: supporter base, grand final appearances and bloodlines. They can trace their lineage through the generations and their ups and downs. After 1990, the Magpies lost their way, before bobbing up again in seven grand finals this century and now two more premierships.<\/p>\n Darcy Moore was at all of them, watching with a particular mindset. As the son of a Collingwood great \u2013 albeit ill-starred in grand finals \u2013 he could dream not just of playing league football, but playing for Collingwood.<\/p>\n Now the club captain, it\u2019s why he made a point of thanking past players from the podium on Saturday. \u201cCollingwood\u2019s not just any other team,\u201d he said. \u201cWe really feel it when we interact with past players and see how they still care and are invested in our journey, so to be able to share it with them was cool.\u201d<\/p>\n So what did past player-superstar-father Peter say to son and captain Darcy as they hugged minutes before the first bounce? \u201cHe just said, go get \u2019em,\u201d Moore said. \u201cI just said, I love you.\u201d<\/p>\n Nathan Buckley was another of the line, achieving everything as player and coach of the Magpies except a premiership. He was enfolded into the celebrations on Saturday night. \u201c\u2018Fly\u2019 [McRae] spoke of how important he was,\u201d said Kelly, \u201cbecause a lot of the development of these boys came through him. Unfortunately for \u2018Bucks\u2019, he didn\u2019t get what we got this time, but he\u2019s very much a part of it.\u201d<\/p>\n When the Magpies plummeted to 17th in 2021, and as the Eddie McGuire era gave way to the Jeff Browne era, the Magpies began to remake themselves with old boys Kelly and Wright in the back offices, but a fresh-faced outsider as coach (albeit that McRae had worked at the club previously).<\/p>\n It\u2019s worked if not beyond their wildest dreams, then sooner than anyone thought they could be realised. Wright thought Collingwood was in for a painstaking rebuild. \u201c\u2018Fly\u2019 came in and his whole mantra is about winning and acting like winners in everything we do,\u201d Wright said. \u201cHe\u2019s been enormous for setting the standards. Everyone has bought in. We always talk about having deep wins and shallow losses. This\u2019ll be a deep win.\u201d<\/p>\n Kelly said that sometimes change was necessary for its own sake. \u201cThe difference is that maybe a few people who did not believe in themselves got the opportunity to play some different roles,\u201d he said. Maybe the shackles came off. Maybe the new style of play that \u201cLeppa\u201d (assistant coach Justin Leppitsch) and the coaches brought in came at just the right time.<\/p>\n Collingwood 1990 premiership players, and now chief executive and football manager respectively: Craig Kelly (left) and Graham Wright.<\/span>Credit: <\/span>Getty Images<\/cite><\/p>\n He also said that stability from boardroom to boot room was crucial.<\/p>\n So it was that as the change agent McRae paraded his triumphant team before the faithful this day, dotted around the background were several faces familiar from the galleries and honours boards. Call them ghosts of grand finals past, the friendly variety.<\/p>\n \u201cThat\u2019s what footy clubs are about,\u201d said Kelly. \u201cGenerations and relationships and bringing it all together to play their roles. It\u2019s important. Sometimes you bring too many people back and it\u2019s too much and not good, but Jeff\u2019s done a good job of it.\u201d<\/p>\n In 1990, the finals were extended by a week because of a Collingwood-West Coast qualifying final draw, which meant that the Magpies premiership celebrations flowed straight into the Copeland Trophy dinner and the next day into a flight to London. Some didn\u2019t sleep for days.<\/p>\n Collingwood players celebrate with the 1990 premiership trophy.<\/span>Credit: <\/span>The Age<\/cite><\/p>\n \u201cWe ended up at the airport very ordinary to fly out to London to play Essendon again,\u201d said Wright. \u201cWe beat them again, which was a surprise because we weren\u2019t in great nick.\u201d<\/p>\n There was a break-in at Kelly\u2019s house on Copeland night, which left him with less than 24 mostly unslept hours to get a new passport. \u201cI like to think the boys will be a bit better prepared going into next year than Wrighty and I were,\u201d he said. \u201cI certainly was carrying about 30 kegs too much and we didn\u2019t get going until midway through the year.\u201d <\/p>\n On the stage on Sunday, McRae did caution the sea of fans that some of the players were \u201cdusty\u201d and he didn\u2019t mean Martin. Nonetheless, true to the McRae coaching philosophy, all were able to, let\u2019s say, play their roles.<\/p>\n Wright now has played in and overseen premierships at Collingwood as well as helping Hawthorn to build Alastair Clarkson\u2019s four premierships. He celebrated quietly, for a good reason. \u201cThere\u2019s no better feeling than waking up on the day after you\u2019ve been involved in a premiership,\u201d he said. \u201cIt was great waking up today.\u201d<\/p>\n Keep up to date with the best AFL coverage in the country. <\/i><\/b>Sign up for the Real Footy newsletter<\/i><\/b>.<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n<\/p>\n
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