History of the Collingwood Football Club
At the end of the 1896 season, Collingwood and South Melbourne finished equal at the top of the ladder with records of 14–3–1, causing a playoff match to determine the premiership; this was the first time this had occurred in VFA history.
The record of four flags in succession has never been matched nor topped, with the Melbourne of 1955–1957 and the Brisbane Lions of 2001–2003 reaching the following season's Grand Final, only to be thwarted by Collingwood and Port Adelaide, respectively.
The Hafey-led Magpies played in grand finals in 1977 (drawn, then lost in a replay the following week to North Melbourne), 1979, 1980, 1981, inspiring the term "Colliwobbles" to signify a choking phenomenon.
Their status as a potential powerhouse at the beginning of the decade was reduced with each passing season, the club contesting the finals only twice after 1990 (in 1992 and 1994, losses to St Kilda and West Coast, respectively).
But after leading by 37 points at a quarter time on a boggy MCG over the previous year's runners up, Sydney, the rot set in for good; the team capitulating to go down in demoralising fashion, only Jason Wild and Richard Osborne looking handy in attack with the Rocca brothers failing to fire a shot.
The Magpies lost to Hawthorn at Waverley Park the following week on a typically wet and miserable day, failing to score a goal in the opening term as the Hawks blitzed all comers.
The wheels were again set in motion for another winless June, the team finally snapping out of its slump at the ground it knew like no other, Victoria Park in round 15 against Fremantle.
In one of the few bright moments of the year, Buckley finished second in the Brownlow Medal to Saint Robert Harvey on 24 votes, winning his third Copeland Trophy and relieving Brown of the captaincy.
These sparks which morphed over time into phoenixes providing hope of a bright future in Chris Tarrant, Paul Licuria, Tarkyn Lockyer, Anthony Rocca, Nick Davis, Heath Scotland, Damien Adkins, and Rupert Betheras.
Under Malthouse, the club displayed glimpses of what was on offer in the coming years, with the young brigade leading the way to a 5–0 season in 2000, a turnaround previously unheard of from such no names.
Buckley was everywhere in the opening half of the year, the Rocca brothers returned to their best form, and the kids, Adkins, Fraser, Johnson and Davis, enjoyed debuts to remember in the round one defeat of Hawthorn on a sweltering MCG under hot Melbourne skies.
They received a stunning goodbye from the crowd and a sentimental and terrifically sporting gesture from Essendon and their coach, Kevin Sheedy, who stood nearby and clapped the two Gavins from the ground for one last time on their teammates' shoulders.
Brown would remain to this very day at the club as an assistant coach, while Crosisca traveled the state in the same guise, albeit with stints at Hawthorn, North Ballarat, the Kangaroos and now Carlton.
The year began brightly, with some promising showings in the Ansett Cup morphing into some heartening displays in the entire season, with the youth, as Shane O’Bree, Paul Licuria and Tarkyn Lockyer collecting much of the slack from Buckley in the midfield.
At one finish, eldest son Sav put his side in front with minutes remaining, while in the dying seconds, Anthony had the chance to win it for the Pies.
Despite playing in foreign territory in front of a hostile crowd, the Magpies bit complicated all night, with Josh Fraser's intercept of Brett Montgomery's handball late in the piece and ensuing goal wrapping up a morale boosting nine point triumph.
The club defeated St Kilda in unconvincing fashion on an overcast day a week later before succumbing to the flooding, negative ways of Rodney Eade and his Sydney Swans.
Swamped by such negative tactics, the Magpies could never drag themselves out of the mire, the match memorable only for Paul Williams’ return to face his old side, Buckley's hamstring injury and Molloy's spectacular launch over Swan fullback Andrew Dunkley.
The Pies' victory push was stalled when Molloy looked to clean up Bomber wingman Mark Mercuri but decapitated teammate Tarkyn Lockyer, concussion sidelining the likeable West Australian for the remaining two matches.
Carlton decided the hand the club a walloping in round 21, before the team, minus Lonie for the first time that season, a remarkable effort for a debutant, cruised to victory over the Kangaroos at Manuka Oval, Canberra, a win trumpeted as the changing of the guard by many, with the Roos on the slide, and the Magpies on the rise.
They won in emphatic fashion highlighted by a six-goal third term, Anthony Rocca's 75m pearler the stand out, while Betheras and Freeborn's majors were rewarded with roars louder than any other witnessed by the famous stadium.
Here, however, is where things changed, the club first relishing its VFL affiliate Williamstown's Grand Final victory on the Sunday in a fitting send-off to retiring warriors Mark Richardson, Jarrod Molloy and Glenn Freeborn.
The rot set in when key forward, and the club's most important player, Anthony Rocca, was suspended for two weeks for striking Port Adelaide's Brendon Lade in the preliminary final.
Despite the predictions of the game's experts, Malthouse regenerated the side through the recruitment of several likely young products, including Dale Thomas and Scott Pendlebury, while Travis Cloke had arrived a year earlier.
Skipper Buckley retired in the ensuing weeks, as did Clement and Licuria, a changing of the guard apparent, as the young Magpies, such as Dale Thomas, Scott Pendlebury, Martin Clarke and Nick Maxwell proved themselves capable of not only keeping the club near the top end of the ladder, but perhaps within reach of premiership success in the years to come.
Despite the Magpies dominating field position for much of the game they only kicked 4 goals and 17 behinds in what would become the beginning of a trend of inaccurate goal-kicking which the Pies would be widely criticised for throughout the season.
Brownlow night was on the next Monday with Dane Swan being the highest polling Magpie, finishing with 24 votes to come third behind winner Chris Judd and Geelong's Gary Ablett.
In their first match at the MCG and first real rest against fellow undefeated side, Carlton in round three Collingwood cruised to win by 28 points in front of 88,181 fans, with this the largest home-and-away attendance between the two clubs in history.
After this match the Collingwood Football Club raised concerns over the fitness of out-of-form Dane Swan alongside teammates Darren Jolly, Brent Macaffer and Nathan Brown (all injured) and sent them to a high altitude training camp in Arizona so that the four could recover from their individual injuries.
Collingwood endured an up-and-down 2013, losing to lowly Gold Coast but also defeating reigning premiers Sydney and other formidable sides such as Essendon, Richmond and Geelong.
