Leigh Matthews and Mick McGuane celebrate the 1990 drought-breaking premiership win over the Bombers. (Photo: Ballarat Courier)
During the 70s and early 80s, Collingwood fans were burdened by their club’s Grand Final heartache. Referred to as the ‘Colliwobbles’, the Pies at their peak lost four Grand Finals in five years.
Mick McGuane remembers those Grand Finals vividly. Growing up a Collingwood supporter, McGuane expressed pure emotion when they lost – locking himself in his room for days, in tears. So when McGuane helped to abolish the ‘Colliwobbles’ name a decade later, it ended years of heartache, a moment the premiership hero would remember forever.
“[Winning the premiership] was probably more not for your own benefit, it was more to do with the heartache and the disappointment that a lot of Collingwood fans had endured over a 32-year period,” he told Scribe Sports.
“To go back to Victoria Park that night, the next day family day, the celebration Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, for as long it went for was something to behold. It was euphoric. The atmosphere was electric. To see grown men and grown women cry at your feet [when we’re up on stage] was something I’ll never forget because we brought a lot of joy and satisfaction to those people who paid a lot of money for a long period of time.” - Mick McGuane
(Photo: The Guardian)
Footy has always been Mick McGuane’s first love. Born into country football royalty, the game was entrenched into his lifestyle from an early age. From the age of three, McGuane ran out with the Sebastopol seniors every week as their team mascot, the side was coached by none other than Mick’s dad, Brian.
When it came to sport, Mick lived a stereotypical Australian childhood – cricket in the summer and footy in the winter. As the years would progress, many saw Mick as a star cricketer. The wicket-keeper batsman was playing A-grade cricket at 13 and was even playing in the Dowling Shield as a young teen. However, footy always had a special place in his heart.
“I always felt the connection to footy for me. By the time I was sort of 16 or 17, I knew where I was going. I felt the more that I heard that I should be playing cricket, the more determined I’d become to probably prove people wrong,” McGuane said.
“I knew where I wanted to go and what I wanted to achieve, and Collingwood was the club I barracked for.”
Before the draft was introduced at the end of the 1986 season, all players from country Victoria were zoned off to different clubs based on where they lived. St Kilda had priority access to the Ballarat Football League where McGuane played, initially preventing his dream to play for the black and white. However, the Saints passed on securing the rights to the speedy midfielder, allowing his boyhood club to swoop in. Mick told Scribe Sports about the night Collingwood signed him.
“I was fortunate enough one night when my dad came to St Pat’s College in Ballarat where I went to school… and this Wednesday night he came to school and said I’ve got a phone call from Billy O’Keefe (Collingwood recruiting officer at the time) and said, ‘here’s your chance to shine,’” he said.
“And that night I went out and kicked 13 goals at centre-half forward as captain of the school team and I signed at the Ballarat Post Office by 6 o’clock.”
Arriving in 1986, McGuane spent the year in the under 19s, playing alongside fellow future premiership players in Gavin Brown, Gavin Crocisca and Damien Monkhorst, all of which led the side to their first 19s flag in 12 years.
That season McGuane was club leading goalkicker, relishing in his role as an undersized centre-half forward, a position his father had excelled in years prior. Kicking 36 majors for the year, Mick would be one of 11 players from that premiership side to earn a senior promotion for 1987.
In what was Leigh Matthews’ first full season in charge, he played all but four players on the senior list throughout the ’87 season, giving the 19-year-old his first crack at VFL football late in the season. After playing three games later in the season, McGuane was determined to become a regular member of the first team in 1988, blaming himself for going through the motions.
“In ’87, I think Leigh [Matthews] played about 41 players on our list, and it was all about the changing of the guard, and probably trying to put his imprimatur on the group, but also with a vision of the future, and I wanted to be a part of that future to be perfectly frank. I got a taste of senior footy, played three games in ’87 which wasn’t enough in my eyes and that wasn’t anyone else’s fault bar me own,” he said.
“The first thing I learnt after that foray into three games of AFL footy [is] you have to do better in a lot of areas, and that’s the reason why I probably challenged myself over that summer to make sure that I could have the biggest preseason I could (which I did).”
1988 was a turning point in McGuane’s career, as a move into the midfield resulted in him finishing runner-up to Peter Daicos in the Copeland Trophy. The change also saw the speedster recruited for the infamous ‘We Love Football’ rap that lives in footy folklore.
“I remember it vividly because I think they just tried to get a blend of some experienced players, and some younger players who were making inroads into an AFL career,” he said.
“To rub shoulders with those boys at the MCG in the locker room and singing songs and stuffing it up…was one of those days you never forget.”
By the time Collingwood went full tilt for the flag in 1990, the speedster had established himself as a bona fide star. Averaging 25 disposals a game halfway through the season, McGuane was gifted his first ‘Big V’ guernsey for their clash against Western Australia.
In his state debut, the Magpies midfielder was superb, racking up 37 disposals in a comfortable victory. The performance drew recognition from the late great Ted Whitten who had a discussion with McGuane post game.
“I remember vividly Teddy Whitten coming over and shaking my hand and said, ‘congratulations son, you’ve won me medal [for the best Victorian player on ground]’. He didn’t take into account that he gave his votes but there were other votes given by the selection [committee],” he said. The medal was instead won by Simon Madden.
On top of his maiden appearance for Victoria, 1990 also saw Mick play in his first senior Grand Final. Facing archrivals Essendon, the match was evenly poised until the infamous quarter-time brawl. Mick recalled the aftermath of the incident during the second episode of the Scribe Sports Interview Series.
“I remember vividly when all the dust settled, I looked over me right shoulder to make sure at the scene there was no carnage but there was. My good mate Gavin Brown was knocked out by Terry Daniher,” he said.
“I remember Leigh [Matthews] spoke to him at half-time and said, ‘can you get back on?’ And the roar of the crowd when he came back on and went straight back to Terry Daniher in a physical sense…we thought that was inspirational.”
Collingwood would kick 11 goals to three for the remainder of the match to win by 48 points. The burden of the previous Grand Final losses had been erased. All the agony from the previous three decades had come to an end. McGuane spoke about the celebrations proceeding their drought-breaking win.
“To go back to Victoria Park that night, the next day family day, the celebration Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, for as long it went for was something to behold. It was euphoric. The atmosphere was electric. To see grown men and grown women cry at your feet (when we’re up on stage) was something I’ll never forget because we brought a lot of joy and satisfaction to those people who paid a lot of money for a long period of time,” he said.
Collingwood fans from all over rejoiced as years of heartache and pain had come to an end, after the Pies claimed the 1990 premiership cup.
“To see the joy and adulation our group of players in 1990 [gave] to those people was something that was probably bigger than the game.” - Mick McGuane
Mick will always cherish the final 13 seconds of the 1990 Grand Final when he kicked the ball out from full back to his great mate Darren Millane.
“That moment kicking the ball to [Darren Millane] and then siren going, throwing the ball, puts it under his jumper…that was a monumental moment,” McGuane said.
It became more significant when Millane died in a car accident a year after that 1990 Grand Final, a loss that still impacts Mick to this day.
“I still look back on it now and I sort of struggle with it a little bit. He was a really good friend, he was a mentor, a larrikin. He just encompassed the Australian way,” he said.
“I’d love to be catching up with him and having a counter meal or a beer or talking about the good old days.”
McGuane wanted to rectify his disappointing 1991 season by putting in extra work over the off season. Hiring the services of well-renowned boxing coach Ray Giles (who was also Millane’s trainer), Mick trained between nine and 14 times a week during the 1992 off-season.
The decision would pay dividends as the running midfielder went on to have a career-best season winning the Copeland Trophy, earning his maiden All-Australian blazer and another two Victorian guernseys, while also being considered a Brownlow Medal favourite. Another successful season in 1993 saw McGuane take out Collingwood’s highest honour for a second straight year and a fourth Victorian selection.
However, ongoing injuries would plague his career, not giving McGuane the opportunity to reach his full potential. His biggest issue with injury came in 1996 when an accidental knee to the groin on ANZAC Day resulted in a life-threatening bladder infection that eventuated into a ruptured urethra. McGuane revealed on the podcast what happened in the following week.
“We were playing St Kilda at the MCG and I was up in the grandstand because I wasn’t playing because I tore me calf…I turned to my dad halfway during the second quarter and said, ‘I’m off here, I don’t know what’s wrong,’” he said.
“I’m agitated, I’m sweating, feels like I’m pregnant, my belly’s just getting bigger and bigger by the moment.”
“I went downstairs [to the rooms] just before half time and Julian Feller was in the room who was our orthopaedic surgeon for knees and I said, ‘Jules you better have a look mate, I’m in pain’…he just tapped me on the belly and said, ‘we’ve gotta get you to a hospital straightaway.’”
McGuane exited the hospital 23 days later having already played his last game for the black and white. Injuries might have robbed Mick of ending his career how he deserved, but he will always be remembered for ending 32 years of despair, heartache and tragedy, which is something that can never be taken away from him.
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