Let's remember Collingwood v Essendon

[Mike]

From our archives - Sunday 27th April 1997:

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<FONT size="3">Let's remember Collingwood v Essendon</FONT s>

BY NATHAN BUCKLEY


The now traditional Collingwood-Essendon Anzac Day clash is unlike any other game. For my teammates and I, who haven't participated in a final since we lost to West Coast at Subiaco in 1994, it has become the closest experience to a final during the home-and-away season, because the crowd is so enormous and the atmosphere of the day unique.

It's appropriate that Anzac Day is about remembrance because, from a player's viewpoint, it's a game that sticks in your mind more than any other. Memories of the past couple of games are vivid because the match is played between the same teams, on the same day, on the same ground every year. It is the only Collingwood game of which that can be said. In this respect, I believe it is essential that the AFL retains the Bomber-Magpie contest as an Anzac Day tradition.

Driving to the ground, you can't help but think of the past matches, which have all been tight and dramatic. In the days before the game, I'm invariably asked why I didn't try to score from 60metres out in the dying seconds of that drawn game of 1995. My answer is always that I did the right thing in the circumstances - trying to pass to Sav Rocca, as he had been unbeatable that day and was the man to get to. Unfortunately, Sav wasn't able to take the mark (he only had to beat four Essendon players).

Anzac Day has a special feeling for me, not simply because of football. My father served in Vietnam before I was born and it's obviously a day of significance for him and my family. He lives in Darwin and Anzac Day is one of only three or four games he gets to Melbourne to see me play each year.

Unfortunately, living in Darwin means that over the years he has also lost contact with the soldiers he served with. This year, he was keen to find his old troop, the 108 Battery, but was unable to track them down again and had to be satisfied with watching the parade.

The Anzac theme is obviously something both coaches use in the pre-match addresses. On Friday, Tony Shaw reminded us of those who'd fought and died for Australia. It was Scotty Russell's 150th game and Shawy used the milestone to relate two features of Scotty's career - sacrifice and hard work - to the veterans who sacrificed more than we can imagine.

The sacrifice of the Diggers is something that really hit me as we lined up for that minute's silence. It makes you realise that the pain you're about to experience is minor compared with those who fought on the real battlefield. While AFL football takes courage to play, it is nothing like a war.

I'm sure that this Anzac spirit gets a little extra out of both sides. Friday's game was very fierce and aggressive and I reckon we were as hard and committed in close as I've ever seen us.

THE fact that Essendon went into the game without several key players meant we probably had everything to lose, but talk of the match as a foregone conclusion was ridiculous. Once you're out there, it's man-on-man and the pressure of these Anzac Day games invariably makes them tight, regardless of the players taking part or where the teams are on the ladder. I was mindful, too, that bringing an inexperienced player or two into the side - as the Bombers did - can add an enthusiasm and spirit that the experienced player may not have.

Regardless, if we want to be a top side, we'll have to get used to being favorites in big games. Top sides deal with that pressure of expectation week-in, week-out.

I think Friday's game might be a turning point in our season. In the two previous games, we'd blown leads and lost narrowly to Carlton and St Kilda, and when Essendon made its charge early in the last quarter, I'm sure there were people who thought we might capitulate. We really stood up in that last 20 minutes and dug our heels in. It was important for our self-belief that we withstood the challenge and won well.

So we won this year's battle on Anzac Day. I was privileged to play in the game and represent, not only Collingwood, but the AFL and football in general. The game is football's contribution to honoring the Anzacs, and no doubt, 12 months from now, the same feelings and emotions will flood over on 25 April.