It was the decade where football took its first faint steps towards professionalism.

Players chased a greater financial return, Waverley rose from the paddocks, colour television beamed into our living rooms for the first time and the game endured through a turbulent decade.

The ‘Sensational Seventies, as they would become known, proved a tantalising, yet ultimately unfulfilled period for Collingwood.

It was bookended by heartbreaking Grand Final losses to Carlton. The first came when the Magpies lost from what had previously been considered an unlosable situation; the second when Collingwood almost pinched the premiership in the dying moments of a dour struggle.

Through it all, the goings on at Collingwood – and at Victoria Park - was like a soap opera you couldn’t switch off, and the audience was spellbound.

For those who lived through it, it was a period they will never forget and it produced heroes and characters alike forever etched into our consciousness.

For those who didn’t,Collingwood Forever will transport you back in time each week this season for a blast from the ‘70s past, profiling a player who made an impact for one reason or another.

John Dellamarta had almost the perfect occupation for a defender during four seasons with Collingwood - he worked in the family's locksmith business.

While he wasn't a traditional lock-and-chain defender, the 185cm, 84kg half back stood out for a number of reasons and not just for his choice of employment.

Dellamarta had a mop of blond hair making him instantly recognisable on and off the field, which gave him the look of a 1970's surfer. That perception wasn't too far from the truth, given that in a story ahead of his Magpies debut, he spoke of how he loved to spend some of the summer months in Barwon Heads, chasing the nearby waves.

He was a reliable backman who could also occasionally play forward and was such a prodigious kick that journalist Geoff Poulter said wasn’t too far off what the Rocca brothers could manage a generation later. Dellamarta also didn't mind standing up for himself when he or his teammates were being challenged either.

Unfortunately, he never managed to get the injury breaks or the game-time continuity required to become a regular in the Magpies' line-up. He was restricted to only 17 senior games from 1975 to 1978, and it was a similar situation when he crossed to Melbourne for two seasons in a complex trade transaction.

The Sun's Bob Crimeen said of Dellamarta before his VFL debut in 1975: "The 'gentle' professions - if one might call them so - have been well represented in League football. We've had doctors, dentists, lawyers, teachers, university students, accountants, architects, economists and even a journalist or two."

"Today, John Dellamarta, 20 - probably the first locksmith to make the big league - steps out for the first time."

His selection for the Round 3 game against Fitzroy at the Junction Oval in 1975, was a fitting reward after lengthy periods in the reserves and the under 19s.

"It's been pretty frustrating," Dellamarta said of the long wait for his debut.

"I began to despair last year and wondered if I would ever get a chance to play in the senior team."

He had worked with his father as a locksmith in the Southern Cross building since leaving school at Trinity College, where he attended from 1967 to 1971. That would morph into the business he runs today - Southern Cross Trophies (located in Collingwood) - which services clients including a number of AFL clubs, including the two he played for.

Dellamarta would say at the time: "I'm quite proud to be the first locksmith in League football."

His first senior game in black and white turned out to be a thriller. Collingwood held on to win by two points against Fitzroy. The debutant had eight disposals and took three marks, but was overshadowed by another first-year Magpie - Phil Carman - who kicked six goals that day.

Dellamarta wouldn't get the chance to play his second game until Round 8, when he was named at half-forward, at the expense of Paul Cranage.

He had 16 disposals in the strong win over Essendon at Windy Hill – which would prove a career-best possession tally - before he finally got to play his first senior game (third overall) at Victoria Park the next week against St Kilda.

He was named amongst Collingwood's best players in that Saints' game, having 14 disposals.

But just as he was getting accustomed to the tempo of the game, a pinched cartilage in his fourth match against Hawthorn sidelined for the rest of the season in terms of senior football.

Dellamarta missed selection in Collingwood's first game of 1976, kicking a goal in the reserves that day, but was back for the Round 2 clash with South Melbourne.

A week later he started as a reserve against Hawthorn, but replaced Carman (cut eye) in the third term, kicking two behinds in an embarrassing 88-point loss.

He was back in the reserves on the half-back flank the following week, and couldn't win his way back into the senior side until Round 11.

Again, he was a reserve, replacing Peter Moore in the final term of the two-point win over Melbourne in June, with his one kick bringing up a behind. 

His first goal for the Magpies came in Round 14 in the thumping 95-point loss to Richmond.

That loss was symptomatic of the club's season with the Age saying after the game: "Collingwood Football Club should go on its end-of-season cruise immediately - there were enough passengers in the side on Saturday (against Richmond) to fill the cruise." Internal division racked the club that season, which must have been disconcerting for a young player such as Dellamarta.

John Dellamarta punches the ball away from a Richmond opponent

He played the last three games of the club's bottom-of-the-ladder 1976 season, returning as one of five changes for the Round 20 game against Footscray. The Pies lost the game by 25 points - after the Bulldogs produced a cheeky pre-game banner 'Born with a wooden spoon in their mouth'.

He was named at half-back but went forward to kick 1.1, helping to keep the club in the game for a period in the last quarter when it was slipping away.

He was back in defence in the last two games of the season, having 10 and six possessions against Essendon and Melbourne respectively, as Collingwood registered its unwanted first wooden spoon.

New coach Tom Hafey gave Dellamarta a chance in Round 3, 1977, but only as a reserve. He came off the bench late in the final term to replace Murrie Batt.

He wouldn't get his next opportunity for five weeks, coming back against St Kilda in Round 8, and he was retained in the side for four consecutive rounds.

The Age called him and teammate Kevin Grose "stop gap flankers" in a Round 9 win over Hawthorn, which was a little unfair, given the paper noted Dellamarta did "a creditable job" with 14 touches.

His Round 11 Queen's Birthday clash game against Melbourne proved noteworthy for other reasons. He had 13 disposals in the 33-point win over the Demons, but was reported by umpire Neville Nash for "deliberately striking Ross Brewer with a right clenched fist" in the first quarter.

The VFL tribunal found him guilty and he was suspended for one game.

But at least he had a sense of humour. The Sun detailed: “A disappointed Dellamarta, who is trying to force his way as a regular into the Magpie senior side, said last night: 'I guess I can now go to the races next Saturday and watch my father's horse run at Sandown."

Nash told the tribunal he had seen Brewer trying to break away from Dellamarta, noting the Magpie had "turned around and swung his arm with his first clenched."

It was a costly suspension. He didn't played another senior game for the season in which the Magpies swept through to the Grand Final.

He was "hampered" by leg injuries in 1978 and was only selected for one senior game - as a late inclusion against North Melbourne, but he still managed to kick a goal.

It would prove his 17th - and last game - with Collingwood.

Dellamarta was only 24 when he was traded to Melbourne along with Carman and Wayne Gordon for Brewer (whom he had been suspended for striking in 1977) ahead of the 1979 season.

His luck wasn’t much better with his new club, having suffered a dislocated shoulder during the preseason, which interrupted his flow into the regular season.

He was able to play two games for the club - consecutive matches in Rounds 4 and 5 in 1979 - but it would prove his only season with the club.

Dellamarta transferred to Prahran in the VFL, playing two seasons in 1980-81, with his best game coming with six goals against Geelong West.

His business has meant Dellamarta has never been all that far away from the game he loved, with the company being a leader in the trophy and engraving business for more than 40 years.

In 2011 Melbourne “initiated” new staff awards and randomly chose a local company for the trophies. It was only when the club noticed the signature at the bottom of an email that it realised the John Dellamarta who ran the company was the same one who had been a part of “the famous trade” in 1979.

Dellamarta has also done work for the Magpies, and has been a regular at Collingwood past players’ gatherings over the years.