Collingwood diehard Steve Fahey recalls some of his favourite moments in time between the Magpies and the Bulldogs.

This article continues my occasional series on the best wins the Pies have had against each other club in my footy-watching lifetime, which began as a toddler in the mid-1960s.

This week, I look at the top five wins the Pies have had against the Western Bulldogs.

Three of these matches came from an incredible period in 2009/10, when both clubs were strong.

Due to the vagaries of AFL scheduling the clubs clashed on 4 occasions in the home and away season between round 15 2009 and round 11, 2010 (a period spanning 19 home and away rounds), all at Docklands, before meeting again at the ‘G in the Qualifying Final of 2010.

I reckon that the best win we have had against the Dogs was in round 1, 2010.

This match carried a huge amount of hype, with the Dogs entering the season proper as flag favourites with the bookies on the back of an excellent 2009 and winning the pre-season NAB Cup after acquiring the full forward they had waited for, Big Bad Barry Hall.

This hype was only added to by the return of Brad Johnson from a pre-season injury to play his 350^th game.

The Pies welcomed the big-bodied ruckman they had wanted for years in Darren Jolly as well as former Saint Luke Ball for their Pies debuts.

A crowd of 49,000 packed Docklands on a steamy March Sunday afternoon on which Melbourne also hosted the F1 Grand Prix. They saw a typical Docklands game of frenetic end-to-end high scoring football.

Collingwood started brilliantly, kicking eight in the first quarter to lead by 30 points with Swanny bursting from clearances and manic forward pressure led by Leroy Brown, who few would have picked at this stage would become the cult hero he did.

After we stretched the lead to six goals, the Dogs hit back hard (as they had done in round 15, 2009 – read on!) to reduce it to nine-points at the main break.

They got to within two-points during the third quarter before we kicked the last three goals of the quarter to kick away to a lead we never again looked like giving up, going on to win by 36 points.

Our multi-pronged forward line featured four goals to Alan Didak and Paul Medhust, and Leon kicking three, with Swanny contributing the same number from the midfield.

Heath Shaw and Heritier Lumumba provided outstanding drive from defence and Leroy applied enormous forward pressure, had multiple score assists and nullified Brian Lake, who had recorded Brownlow votes in both 2009 clashes.



Leigh Brown takes on a pack of Bulldogs during the first match of the 2010 season.

This game was followed by one of the most-quoted statements of the season, if not the decade, when Dogs coach Rodney Eade labelled Will Minson as “the dumbest smart bloke in the AFL”, after he ran through the mark to concede a 50-metre penalty and resultant goal to Travis Cloke at a critical moment.

Speaking of big Travis, this match was also memorable for the quirky statistic that he recorded the highest disposal efficiency of any player at 92 per cent.

It was a great start to what turned out to be a magical season. I went home very happy even though we had all been drenched in rum and Coca-Cola after someone behind us had a faulty carry tray that fell apart while being transported along the aisle and showered all within range. It wasn’t a big problem for me, but one of my nephews had to go straight to his Under-14 cricket presentation function, and I don’t think it was that good a look or smell for him!

Sadly, many of the veterans that featured in this game – Fraser, Lockyer, O’Bree, Leon, Presti and Medhurst – didn’t make it to the big dance in October, and neither could Jack Anthony, who later left for Fremantle.

Number two on my list comes from round eight, 1978, when we trailed by 35-points and 34-points at half and three-quarter times at the then Western Oval before storming home for a four-point win.

Admittedly, the Dogs were on the bottom of the ladder, but we had experienced a very shaky start to the season, winning only one of our previous five games, and there are not too many games you win when six goals behind at the last break.

We kicked eight in the last quarter after managing only six for the first three quarters, aided by the strong gale that blows straight down the ground at the Western Oval.

Intriguingly, our goal kickers were led by former Bulldogs captain Laurie Sandilands, who kicked three, representing half of the goals he kicked in the four games of his Pies’ career. He later described leaving the Bulldogs as “the biggest single regret in my life”, adding that his father said ‘I’ll be buggered if I’m going to Victoria Park to watch you and be spat on’.

Ray Shaw, Craig Stewart and Fabulous Phil Carman were our other multiple goal kickers.



Ray Shaw kicked two goals in Collingwood's win over the Western Bulldogs in round eight, 1978.

The Bulldogs team featured Ian Low, who played for the Pies in the ill-fated 1980 Grand Final, and Bruce Reid, father of our Ben, and of course Sydney Swan Sam. It also featured a 19 year-old Tasmanian by the name of Wayne Fox, who made his debut, recorded no statistics and never played again.

Number three on the list comes from round 15, 2009, a game that was nearly a mirror image of the 1978 game, with the Pies hanging on to win by a solitary point after leading by 34-points at the last change.

This finish nearly did those of us in who sat through the 1970, 1979 and 1981 Grand Finals and the 1973 Preliminary Finals in which we lost after having healthy leads.

Our solitary goal in the last quarter to Daisy Thomas came in the last two minutes and looked like it would be enough.

But the Dogs goaled again, leaving us defending grimly, leaving it to first-year player Dayne Beams to hold a strong defensive mark before the relief of the final siren.

Leon kicked three and Didak, Maxwell and Swanny all starred.

Some context for the recruitment of Jolly for the 2010 season comes in the hitout statistics, with the Bulldogs’ duo of Minson and future Pie Ben Hudson eclipsing Josh Fraser and Leroy Brown 47-14, which was converted into a 45-27 clearance advantage to the Dogs.

Number four on the list is the 2010 Qualifying Final.

After being the dominant team in the competition for the second half of the 2010 season, our form flattened a little over the last two weeks of the season, falling in against the Crows before losing to the Hawks, breaking an unbeaten streak of eleven. Despite the ordinary form of the Dogs in the latter weeks of the season, Pies fans experienced that heady mix of excitement and anxiety ahead of the first week of the finals.

Had we peaked and flattened out? Could this year be the year?

Anxieties were relieved fairly early in a game we dominated from start to finish, winning every quarter to come home by 62-points. Our three midfield stars led the way. Swanny reigned supreme with 39 possessions and three goals, Pendles had 30 possessions and two goals, and Daisy 32 possessions and a goal. A 19 year-old Steele Sidebottom kicked three and Leroy Brown took a significant step towards cult status with a legendary chase down of Dogs midfielder Daniel Cross, as well as adding two goals of his own.



Dane Swan and Jarryd Blair rejoyce on a wet September night.

Lumumba endeared himself to the faithful by bumping Big Bad Barry on to the seat of his pants in front of the Cheer Squad before engaging in a lively verbal stoush, which he amusingly reported went like this: ''He was just asking for some tips on how to get started with Twitter…I said it would suit him because you only have to use 120 characters. I don't think he appreciated it.''

Interestingly, in light of the 2009 game, our ruck combination of Jolly and Leroy were slaughtered in the hit-outs by Minson and Hudson even more convincingly than the Fraser-Leroy combination in 2009 (61-16) but the clearances went our way (44-40).

The last game on my list is the 1974 Elimination Final at Waverley Park, which was the first final between the clubs since 1956 and the Dogs’ first final since their 1961 Grand Final loss.

The Dogs were coached by the great Bobby Rose, captained by Sandilands and their team contained three future Brownlow Medallists, Gary Dempsey, Barry Round and Bernie Quinlan (the latter two won their Brownlows at other clubs).

Similarly to the Qualifying Final in 2010, this game was one-way traffic in the Pies’ direction.

The Sharpshooter (Peter McKenna) kicked seven as we led the Dogs a merry dance.

Ronnie Wearmouth and Wayne Richardson were among the best with 28 possessions and two goals apiece and teenager Peter Moore enjoyed his first win for The Pies in his third game.

Remarkably, despite having made the finals in each season, this was our first finals win since the Second Semi-Final in 1970 and our first finals win at Waverley.

These were great times. Let’s hope we can add to this list very soon.



Peter Moore was playing in just his third game when the Magpies met the Bulldogs in the 1974 Elimination Final.