Monkey the Great

[Bill Banks]

It's just come over the radio that Monkey has retired. From a selfish point of view I'm glad he didn't end up at St. Kilda or anywhere else but Woori-Yallock. At least he goes out as a Collingwood player of over 200 games, un-tainted by wearing any other colours than the Black & White. In his early career he was fit enough to be always up with the play; no kick behind the game for him. He'd be contesting the ball in the packs and dishing it out to Francis, Russell, Wright etc. He had the best hands of any ruckman going around; possibly developed through the amount of basketball he had played. In our premiership year he topped the statistics for the AFL for the most number of effective hit-outs. No one knows the full extent of the injuries he carried in the latter part of his career yet he always played with a lion heart. Probably no other ruckman in the game has had more marking ability than Monkey, with the exception of Gary Dempsey. And hardly anybody in the modern era has been as tough, Lockett included. Yet he always played with the same genial, larrikin spirit that he displayed off the field. Thommo and Moore won Brownlows and Copelands but Monkey wore a premiership medallion around his neck. They reckon that when Whale Roberts was traded from South Melbourne to Richmond, the heart and soul went out of the club. I only hope it doesn't happen to the woods. Let's hope he is signed up as ruck coach to help develop McKee and Fraser. The club must give him a testimonial and an official send-off to make up for not including him in the side which played the last game at Victoria Park. Damian Monkhurst has left his large imprint on the Vic. Park turf and he built the new clubrooms a couple of years ago. An extra board needs to go up above the stands with his name as befitting one of the all-time greats.

[petro]

That's funny I just heard on Channel Ten that Monkey was to start training with another Melbourne club and be drafted in december.

[Clemo]

That's what I heard too !
For Monkey's sake, I hope he retires gracefully. He still can be helpful by staying at Pieland in some capacity.

------------------
Tony_Clemente@hotmail.com
www.netspace.net.au/~clemo

[ZED]

A back up Ruckman two years ago would of extended Monkys career.
He was one of the few Ruckman to carry the ruck duties on his own.

[crud]

Monky was a great player for Collingwood up to 1996.Any other club would of traded him after this period while he was still of some value.The truth of the matter is it was between him and somerville in the last few seasons as to who was the worst #1 ruckman in the AFL.Already since the arrival of MM the deadwod is being cleared out>I seriously doubt any of the players delisted/traded after this years WOODEN SPOON will cause Magpie supporters to much pain next,would any other club want them..i doubt it.

[Broadie]

Bill Banks - you've said it all, and said it well (except fro the fact that Monky has now stated that he wants to "do a Paul Salmon" and prove his best is yet to come)

Crud - either you are not a Collingwood man, or you are a disgrace to the Black and White.

Monkhorst is the embodiment of Collingwood. Strong, fearless, skilled and a Premiership hero. I'm not saying that the 2000+ version would be a great or even very good ruckman, just that you have shown little respect for a true club champion who could NEVER be accused of giving less than 100%.

MONKY,WE SALUTE YOU.

I hope you don't go on to another club, but if you do I wish you every success - even 3 votes against us (as long as it's a Woods win).

[crud]

I agree Monky is a legend but as i stated Collingwoods loyalty to players during Shaws reign took us to our ultimate path..the 1999 WOODEN SPOON.Monkys form slipped after 1996 yet he remained our #1 ruckmen with little or no pressure coming from any other players on the list.This was due to thr recruitment of 2nds players from other clubs and until te last 2 seasons "goers" from the juniors.I salute Monkys career as the Magpies #1 ruckmen but now CFC has transformed into a pro AFL outfit success will follow.

[foxy]

whilst i totally agree with all this talk about how shawry was too loyal, and that he kept too many dud players, and that's what caused us to win the spoon, i think there's still some very special memories that come solely from the shaw era. basically, whenever we won with this team of 'loyal' dropkicks, it was the best feeling i've felt in my life. even if we won less than 10 times a year, it still felt so bloody good just to see these apparently crap players win a game. some special examples:

- a game against north in '96 (i think or '97), that we won by ten goals after we lost 9 matches in a row.
- the start of the '97 season, when we won something like 3 or 4 in a row, the roccas were on fire, and we beat north and the bulldogs in consecutive games
- the friday night that we beat the demons by something like 110 points in '97
- the game against richmond last year when we scored 48 points to 2 in the 1st quarter (that was truly beautiful)
- the last quarter of this year's first game against the bombers, when we nearly beat them after a big comeback, and all the bombers supporters around me were pooing themselves
- the last quarter of last year's second game against the bombers, when wazza showed us his full potential and controlled the play for 15 minutes
- last year's game against geelong which we won in freezing conditions, without bucks, and godden got cleaned up on the outer wing and came back on
- the games against hawthorn, richmond and st.kilda this season, which we won; particularly the saints game because it was just so bloody good when betho kicked the winning while being dragged backwards in a tackle, and the hawks game was special because it was like the collingwood supporters just controlled the terraces.
- and of course tazza's mark against north this year

these are just some things i remember about shawry's reign, and i'll never forget any of them, nor will i forget all the players that we kept during this time, because they provided me with some great times, even if they were few and far between.

[Amanda]

Foxy, i totally agree, there have been some fantastic moments in the last few years, and you probably remembered all of them.

The other thing that I've noticed about Collingwood since Shawry came in was that the players rarely gave up. At the end of Lethal's term, the team would 'stop' if they were losing, allowing their opposition to get a heap of easy goals at the end of a game. When Shawry began coaching, the players put in their best to the final siren, even when the team was being flogged.
That, for me, is the reason I continue going to the games every week. If they started giving games away again all the time, it would be a lot harder to put up with the shit we get as Collingwood supporters every week for the last howevermany years.
By the way, that game against North in '96 was brilliant, and (I don't know if you mentioned this one Foxy) the game at Vic Park against Brisbane in the last round, where we flogged them without Rocca, Buckley and Williams, and it was Kelly and Richardson's last games - and Brisbane were in the finals! (Without trying to sound like the awful B. McAvaney too much,) it was special stuff.

[foxy]

i forgot about that brisbane game. that was bloody brilliant. and there was also a game against adelaide at vic park in '96 or '97, which we were losing by 40 points in the first quarter and in the end we killed them.

[michy]

Since Monkys gone who is going to give the other players a rough time an dwho is going to entertain us at a boring match.
Monky has been a very loyal player for the woods and I wish him all the best for the future.

[AndyIRL]

I think monkey was one of the best we had leave the poor man alone and jsut remember what he did for us whn we had no one else