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.

John Annear

When Collingwood supporters think of John Annear, it normally centres on his departure from the club as part of the bitter poaching wars with hostile neighbour Richmond.

That’s perhaps a natural thought.

Annear was one of many players to ride the revolving door between Victoria Park and Punt Rd – one that went both ways – during the 1980s, as a number of footballers were swept up in tit-for-tat mentality between the old rivals.

He would only play 43 games for Collingwood across three seasons, and as a 22-year-old, was starting to hit his straps in his final year at the club.

But those who played with him at the Magpies think of him a little differently. They recall the strong ruck-rover with the powerful shoulders and the insatiable work ethic on and off the field. They think of the young ruck rover who pushed himself to the limit, and who never took a shortcut, even when some of them starred him in the face.

Annear wasn’t blessed with enormous natural talent, but worked hard to be the best he could be. The frustration came that he was still not at his best when he left for Richmond at the end of the 1983 season. Ultimately, he would play for three VFL / AFL clubs, across 166 games, but the way he left Collingwood was something that still gnawed away at him years later.

Annear had hailed from the rough-and-tumble goldfields of Kalgoorlie, in Western Australia. In an interview with this reporter back in 1992, he explained a little of his upbringing: "I played with the Boulder Central School Side. Then I went to boarding school in the city at Christ Church Grammar (in Perth). I went home to Kalgoorlie to play a year's footy (at Kambalda in 1977) after I left school."

He moved to Perth, where he played three seasons for Claremont in the WAFL. He played 62 games, and attracted the interest of Victorians clubs.

"I really enjoyed my time down there and made some really good friends out of it," he said of Claremont years, where he gained a reputation as a fearless footballer.

"Coming to Melbourne: I suppose it is everyone's goal to play football at the highest possible level. So there was no question of me not moving to Melbourne."

He developed a good relationship with Kevin Worthington when the defender had a season home at Claremont in 1980 after three years with Collingwood. So when Worthington returned to Victoria Park in 1981, Annear agreed to join him, having been impressed by his teammate's positive view of the Magpies.

"I knew Kevin Worthington pretty well and he was always saying what a good side Collingwood was," Annear told the Sunday Herald Sun. "He said it was the club to play for in Victoria.

“I joined the Magpies and found out it was true."

Annear would manage only one senior game (for one possession) in his debut season of 1981, but took in the information and experiences on offer that would stay with him for the rest of his career.

He modelled part of his game on teammate Stan Magro: "Stan was always an underrated player as far as I was concerned … he left an everlasting impression on me."

"I idolised Stan more than any other player because of the things he did out on the ground.

"Stan was everything I wanted to be. If ever I wanted to be like another player it was Stan. He was desperate and played desperado stuff.

"Stan would launch himself on an opponent to smother the ball."

One of the others at Collingwood to make an immediate impression on Annear was coach Tom Hafey, in particular his almost zealous pursuit of fitness and strength training, which provided Annear with a template for his own football future.

"He (Hafey) would be in the weights room before training and would be there in the 15-minute time trials." he said. "Tommy told me at Collingwood that using weights pre-season was a good way to prevent injuries. (He) was the salt of the earth.”

Annear spent plenty of time in the Victoria Park weights room – sometimes with Hafey – and his already well-round shoulders grew bigger, adding more strength to his 178cm frame.

He established himself as an important member of the Magpies' team in what proved to be a difficult 1982 season, playing all 22 games. The Magpies only won four games that year, and Annear was disappointed when one of his mentors in Hafey was sacked midway through the season, setting a pattern for what was to follow for him at three league clubs.

He would joke that he was a coaching jinx, saying in all but a few seasons he had to watch a coach being replaced. At least the good-humoured Annear turned the coaching merry-go-round he faced into something of a running gag.

"I keep telling the coaches that they haven't a secure job and they're not safe with me,” he said. “The pressure has been on me each pre-season to show the new coach what I'm all about …”

Annear wasn’t a particularly good user of the ball, and could sometimes frustrate fans with his capacity to turn the ball over on occasions. But no one doubted his commitment. Teammates loved the way he attack the contest, and never doubted his capacity to always put the team first.

"At Collingwood, the real fun came from blokes like Stan Magro, Denis Banks and Kevin Worthington,” he recalled. “Another great memory for me was just playing for Collingwood … it was fabulous being involved with a club which is as famous and as well supported as that."


He rated Peter Daicos as the best player he played with, for his “all-round brilliance … he was always a marvel.”

Annear’s best season in Black and White came in 1983. He played 20 of the club's 22 games that year, and was a worthy winner of the Magpies’ most improved award. He had almost 450 disposals and even scored seven Brownlow Medal votes - the same number as his teammate and good friend, Phil Walsh.

But just as he was hitting his peak with Collingwood, he and Walsh were caught up in the offers and counter offers between the bitter rivals in what turned out to be a poaching war that ultimately almost bankrupted both clubs.

Annear opted to leave for Richmond when Collingwood was reluctant to offer him what he thought he was worth. He would later explain: "The disappointment for me was leaving Collingwood in the first place. I didn't mind going to a club like Richmond, but it was definitely a turbulent time."

"Unfortunately, it got to the stage at Collingwood where the club wasn't offering me a lot of choices and I had to look elsewhere. It was a strange time for me. I went to Richmond and the club had three coaches in my three years there.”

While it did earn him the wrath of Collinwood supporters, his former teammates were a little more forgiving. When the Magpies played the Tigers at Victoria Park in the years after, Annear would often get a lift to the game with Magpies skipper Mark Williams, happy to not take his own car for fear of retribution.

He would recount: "I will always have great respect for that club (Collingwood). They're real goers and loyal supporters, and they take a while to forget."

Annear had three seasons with Richmond, playing 65 games, with his best coming in 1984, when he was second in the club's best-and-fairest.

He returned home to Perth when West Coast were born in 1987, and he went on to play 58 games with the Eagles across four seasons.

A resilient footballer, who had always followed Hafey's mantra of weight training to prevent injuries, it wasn’t until late in his career that his body began to let him down. He was good in 1987, and solid in 1988, but sadly missed the Eagles’ finals campaign in that season.

That meant he failed to play in a final during his 166-game career, a sore point for a player so desperate for success.

But his legacy was important in those formative West Coast years. He helped to set training standards that impressed a young John Worsfold, who would recall: “I worked really hard alongside JA (Annear) because he was then rated as the fittest bloke in the AFL. He was 27, I was 18 and I was going to keep up with JA."

One act in his first year with the Eagles summed up his competitive spirit.

After a loss to Geelong at Kardinia Park in 1987, he boarded the plane "feeling pretty low". When the plane landed in Perth, he pulled from his bag the shorts and socks that he had worn against the Cats, and ran home from the airport to his home in Claremont - 22km away.

"I was feeling really low on the way home because I felt my attitude before the game was poor," he told the Sun. "On the plane I felt frustrated. I stewed for three hours over what I should have done.

"When we landed my girlfriend and some friends were waiting for me, expecting to go out to dinner.

"Instead, I got out my dirty shorts and smelly socks and ran the 22 km home. I guess the best way to put it is that I was getting rid of my frustrations."

His old Collingwood coach Tommy Hafey would have loved that.

His passion for hard work didn’t end with his football career, competing in a number of Ironman triathlons, including two world championship at the Hawaiian Ironman in 2009 and 2010.

Annear studied throughout his league career, gaining degrees in radiography and physiotherapy. He worked with West Coast as a physio and conditioning coach, and later with Western Australian cycling and athletic squads.

Incredibly, the one-time Magpie also served as the personal physiotherapist for world-renowned Italian operatic tenor Luciano Pavarotti for two years from 2005 to 2007, before Pavarotti’s death.

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

It's not just about the name: Paul Tuddenham

A Shaw of a different kind: Gary Shaw

The Tassie boy who had no luck: Colin Alexander

A member of a fine football family: Mark Weideman

An 'unknown teenager' in the big time: Noel Lovett