Magpie Army,
Before we close the door on 2022 and celebrate the E.W. Copeland Trophy tonight, we wanted to send a note to all members and fans across the country – and the world – to say a sincere thank you for your support this season.
What an enjoyable year of footy it has been.
The strength of our Club comes from the passion and dedication of Collingwood people.
Our members and supporters have played a critical role and it is this dedication that has helped drive our team forward. I can assure you, as players, we don’t take for granted how fortunate we are to be members of the Collingwood Football Club.
It hasn’t been lost on us just how challenging the last couple of years has been for many supporters and how the pandemic impacted the Magpie community.
While this year has felt a lot more normal, we won’t ever forget the sacrifices supporters made to keep our Club going and to keep the game going in 2020 and 2021 – when many of our fans kept paying for memberships despite not being able to attend matches.
It may seem a distant memory now but we think the challenges of the last couple of years actually meant we cherished and enjoyed the moments more in 2022 – and there were many!
The moment the cheersquad returned to the Club to make the first banner of the season.
The moments players made their AFL debuts and the moments players celebrated their milestones.
The moments our children and families joined in on the team song.
The moments of individual and team brilliance – Darcy Moore and Jeremy Howe holding down the fort. Jack Ginnivan kicking five. Ash Johnson’s goals from the boundary. Beau McCreery and Brayden Maynard’s game-changing tackles. Josh Daicos kicking goal of the year (at least in our eyes).
The far-too-many moments there was a close finish. The Cooollllliiiiingwoooood chant. The roar of the crowd.
Jamie ‘Billy’ Elliott. After the siren. Against Essendon. And then against Carlton. King Clutch.
It has been a season of many moments and we are so grateful those moments could be shared with the loudest and the proudest fans in the Magpie Army.
Thanks for showing up in force and being there for us - it means absolutely everything to know we have an extra player at every match. You epitomise what it means to stand Side by Side – week in, week out, in the cold, in the rain, in the stands, on the tele, at our training sessions.
To have you supporting us and cheering us on lifts our spirits as we work towards becoming better people and better footballers every day.
We also want to thank our coaches and all the staff and volunteers at the Club for their work which is valued and appreciated by all of us.
We want to also extend our congratulations to our VFL and VFLW teams, Wheelchair, Netball and Reclink sides who all made finals in their respective competitions. To our AFLW team who enter Round Six this week, we are right behind you and hope to see another finals series for the athletes in the black-and-white jumper.
To our partners – Emirates, KFC, La Trobe Financial and Nike – and all our corporate and community partners and coteries, thank you for your support.
We cannot wait for the next AFL season, and we look forward to seeing familiar faces and welcoming new faces at training and at games as we build on that momentum into 2023.
Thank you and Floreat Pica – may the Magpie flourish.
Yours Sincerely,
Scott Pendlebury, on behalf of the AFL playing group.
