It was the era of mullets and moustaches; a time when tight shorts and lace-up jumpers were the trends; and when footy expansion meant national, not international as it does today.
Remember the ‘80s?
If you can, you will recall it as one of the most volatile periods in Australian football history. It was a time of seismic change which dragged a near-broke Victorian Football League – with its 12 parochial clubs who played predominantly on suburban grounds each Saturday afternoon (often on muddy grounds) – towards the Australian Football League of today – when 18 clubs play in every state and territory at an assortment of times during the day and night (often under a roof).
If can’t recall them, you missed a remarkable decade for the game, and for Collingwood.
But don’t fret; Collingwood Forever plans to transport you back in time each week for a blast from the 1980s past, profiling a player who made an impact for one reason or another during that decade. They might not have all been stars, but each contributed to one of the club’s most tumultuous periods.
Paul Tuddenham
Paul Tuddenham resolved early in his career that he was never going to feel suffocated by his surname.
In the end, it was injuries and at times a lack of opportunity, which prevented the son of one of Collingwood's most famous players, Des Tuddenham, from making a more lasting impact on the Magpies' fortunes during the late 1980s and early '90s.
A forward with good finishing skills and a confident demeanour, who could also have a run on the ball, he was four centremetres taller than his father. Even though his time at the club was relatively brief, he still managed 40 games across five senior seasons from 1987 to 1991, kicking 32 goals.
For a time, it looked as if he might do what his father couldn't (despite his best efforts) - play in a Magpies premiership side. Sadly, for Paul, an ill-timed injury and losing favour at the wrong time of the 1990 season saw him overlooked in the club's drought-breaking first flag in 32 years.
Des had played 182 games with the Magpies - and a further 69 with Essendon as captain-coach.
Paul had been born in September 1967, less than a fortnight after his father had captained the club to a losing First Semi-Final encounter against Geelong.
One of his first profiles as a VFL player showed Paul Tuddenham "tried out" at Essendon all the while "hoping they (Collingwood) would contact me."
The Magpies eventually did. He first come under notice of VFL clubs when playing with his school, Xavier College, and started off in the Collingwood under 19s, before graduating to the reserves
During an injury-plagued year for the Magpies in 1987, he pushed for senior selection on several occasions, but each time encountered a health issue.
As he told the Sun: "I've had four bouts of tonsillitis, and then a snapped tendon on my left hand." But after two impressive reserves game towards the end of the season, he was selected for the penultimate game of the season against St Kilda at Moorabbin.
"It's his career, not mine," Des would say as Paul was selected for his debut match in the No.46 jumper. He would later say seeing his son wear the black and white almost brought a tear to his eye.
Speaking years later to collingwoodfc.com.au, Paul carried vivid memories of the day at Moorabbin in which, as a 19-year-old, he had 13 disposals and kicked a behind, playing mainly in attack.
"I took a one-handed mark and my first touch of the ball was a handball that set up a goal," Tuddenham recalled. "I was probably unlucky not to kick a couple of goals because I had a couple of, not easy, but close shots into the wind. We lost the game, but I really enjoyed it."
Lou Richards, normally the king of hyperbole, urged Magpie fans to not put too much pressure on Tuddenham, saying: "Remember, stepping into the shoes of a famous father is a terrible handicap."
Tuddenham wasn't overwhelmed: "I’m a fairly pragmatic person so even that comes with a bit of expectation and whatever else, but it never worried me at all.
"I won’t say it had the opposite effect, but I was always happy to get pretty physical when I was playing footy in my younger days so if someone said 'You’re not as good as your dad' or something like that, it tended to fire me up more than anything else."
He kicked two goals against Essendon in his second game - the last home-and-away game of 1987, prompting an upgrade to the No. 6 jumper in 1988.
Peter McKenna, the man who made that jumper famous at Collingwood, was delighted to see the son of his former teammate take on his guernsey. "It gives me a real buzz," McKenna said at the time. "I remember when Des and Helen would bring this tiny young boy wearing my number to training. Now he's out there playing in it."
Tuddenham played six of the first nine games of 1988, before injuries and form saw him out of the team. Even still, one newspaper described him as: "handy on the forward line with his strength and aggression at the ball."
He managed two games late in the season before being a late inclusion for the injured Gavin Crosisca in the 1988 Qualifying Final against Carlton. He spent much of it on the bench waiting for a chance, and had only three possessions on limited game-time.
It wasn't a surprise when he was dropped for the first semi-final against Melbourne the following week.
Peter Daicos, Paul Tuddenham, Frankie Raso and Mick Gayfer are seen before playing in a legends match against Carlton at Princes Park in 2014. Photo: Collingwood Media.
"I had a really good pre-season (in 1989) and got myself the fittest I could have been," he said.
"Micky Gayfer was pretty fit but I felt that I’d become one of the fittest, if not the fittest, at the club in a running sense, so I had a really good year and was going really well."
Having played 10 of the first 14 games, he appeared to have found his niche, with one scribe calling him “the most improved player at the club.”
But a collision with teammate Ron McKeown at the Western Oval against Footscray ended his season.
"I went up for a mark … and got knocked by Ronnie McKeown when I was going up, and came down really awkwardly," he said. "My left foot got stuck in the mud and my body came forward and my head smashed into my left foot and I basically ripped my hamstring off the bone."
"I was never able to run as well after that."
He missed 14 weeks, but looked ahead optimistically to 1990.
He played the first six games of that season, kicking two lots of four goals - against Sydney and Footscray. Playing mainly as a half-forward in a small but effective Magpies’ forward line, Tom Hafey described him as having "great goal kicking potential" alongside superstar Peter Daicos, who was having his most prolific season in attack.
But as coach Leigh Matthews looked for the best forward options, Tuddenham was often in and out of the side. Not everyone agreed with the decision, as one of the letters to the Sun sports section attested: "Why does Paul Tuddenham keep getting dropped from the senior sides?”
He resumed in round 14 against West Coast, but suffered a hamstring strain at an inopportune time. Despite some good form in the reserves, he never made it back to the seniors that season.
He had to watch on as Collingwood went on to win one of the most famous premiership successes. It hurt to miss out, but he hoped there might be more success ahead.
"I played most of the games when I was fit and I felt like I made a contribution to the team because of that and when I was playing I played some good games,” he said. “There’s always that feeling that you’re not a part of it but I didn’t let that affect me as much as it did some others.”
"I was in the rooms for most of the day when the players were there and obviously watching from the stands. I was on the bus to Victoria Park … we had a really good night. I think I came home with Craig Starcevich from The Tunnel nightclub at one or two in the morning with our wives. I think we had something to eat at Richmond, went home and then went straight back in the next day. So the partying went on for a while!"
But by the early practice matches of 1991, he wondered if his card had been marked: “I figured I was going to be battling when I played in the reserves in the first practice match (of 1991) when they rested about 10 blokes from the premiership side.”
“With a lot of the blokes still celebrating, I was the fittest bloke there at that point."
Tuddenham ended up being selected for the first two home-and-away games that season, but could muster only nine for the season, with his last coming in round 20 against Brisbane.
Knee issues compounded the uncertainty. He hurt his knee in the last game of the reserves, but it only got worse.
"When I was first diagnosed it was just with a torn medial meniscus, so it was to do with the cartilage in the knee,” he said. “So I continued training with the reserves who were actually in the finals."
"I was training on the Thursday and I ended up going to change direction and my whole knee collapsed under me and I just went, ‘oh that wasn’t good’. So I ended up getting an arthroscope and came out just expecting to hear them say ‘yeah, you’ll be right in six weeks’. But they said ‘you’ve ruptured your ACL and you’ll be out for up to a year’.”
That happen a few days before his teammate Darren Millane was killed in a car accident, which “put things into perspective” for him.
Facing a long stint on the sidelines, he was surprised to find Collingwood open to offer for him from other clubs. "It's difficult when you've just been told you won't play at least until the first round to go to another club but I believe I would have a better future somewhere else,” he said when he found out the Magpies’ intentions. Football manager Graeme Allan said of Tuddenham: "He's terrific, trains really hard, is a great club man and certainly still required at Collingwood.”
The club was prepared to keep him, but only on a reduced deal that Tuddenham wasn't happy with.
So he entered the National Draft and was overlooked before Carlton selected him in the Pre-Season Draft. Returning from his knee injury, he played 13 reserves games for the Blues but never cracked it for a senior game. Later, he tried out briefly at Fitzroy without success.
But flags did come for Tuddenham – first with Old Xavs in 1995, and then with Port Colts, with his father as coach – which provided a nice full stop on a footy career that never quite reached the heights it at times promised to.
The Electrifying Eighties
Written by Glenn McFarlane and Michael Roberts
A lasting impact: Greg Phillips
A loved rover's big year: Matthew Ryan
A comet in the Magpie sky: Phil Walsh
Sweet sixteen and a senior debut: Terry Keays
Quiet, no fuss and got the job done: Ron McKeown
A man for all seasons: Jamie Turner
Almost ahead of his time: Bruce Abernethy
Hawke's rise and fall: Paul Hawke
Our first Indigenous Magpie: Wally Lovett
Mr Reliable: Michael Taylor
An impact beyond Collingwood: Tony Burgess
Another Shaw thing: Neville Shaw
What could have been: Russell Dickson
A flash in the pan: Darren Collins
