16. Building. 1988 brought a lot of new things to my footballing life. One was a total lack of expectation. For the short time I’d actively followed Collingwood, there’d always been a sense of expectation attached to each season. Under Hafey, it was the expectation of a drought-breaking flag, (seemingly an inevitability when you keep making grand finals). In 1983, it was the expectation of success under a revolutionary new regime, new coach, and a new squad containing expensive recruits. In 1985, it was an expectation of putting it all together under club legend Bob Rose. At the beginning of 1986, when Matthews first succeeded Rose, it was the expectation…

15. The Season That Wasn’t. I played some club football in 1986, first for Thomastown U17s, where I was a half-back flanker or back pocket. Typically, because I was so shy in group situations, I didn’t do myself justice – not that I was a world-beater, but I was better than what I showed. I was also young, being only fifteen, but that’s the group I qualified for. In one game, I mouthed off at an opponent when he bumped me late, and the entire opposition spent the whole match trying to square me up. After the game, our captain told me you don’t mouth off at away games. Thanks…