“One should go on,” the veteran coach said immediately after the match.
“I will ask the players and see how they feel about it. Both might say we want to go on, both might say we want to give it away.”
As it turned out Wakelin, long after the roar had died down from that night, again stepped onto the MCG with his family and friends for a ceremonial goodbye kick.
That left Prestigiacomo.
After making his decision to go around again, it’s probably fair to say neither “Presti” nor his coach knew what to expect in 2009.
Would his body hold up? Would he be quick enough upon returning and, most importantly, was he still up to it?
“I just wanted to get back to the sort of form from four or five years ago,” Prestigiacomo told collingwoodfc.com.au this week.
“I thought I still had something to offer the footy club.
“I suppose I thought if anything did happen [with another injury] that probably would have been it.
“I guess one thing was I was able to get back and play a couple of games [late] last year, to give myself a bit of confidence and something to attack the pre-season with.
“The couple of games towards the end of the year were pretty crucial in me playing on this year.”
To say the 31-year-old has been a welcome, regular addition to the Pies’ backline this season is like saying Nathan Buckley was a nice kick of the ball.
Prestigiacomo has dispelled any doubts on his body by playing every match this year to become one of the Pies’ most valuable assets.
He has also been somewhat of a new recruit, after a nagging foot injury restricted him to just two games in 2008. He also missed 11 games in 2007.
His ability to shut down the opposition’s best key forward has been almost unmatched, but not unnoticed.
This week he was included in All-Australian reckoning after being picked in a preliminary 40-man squad – something he hadn’t pondered before entering his 14th season.
“After the past couple of years, which have sort of been wrecked with injury, I’ve really just focused on getting out there and playing some consistent footy in a successful side,” he said.
“There was a time when my foot wasn’t getting any better … they were some pretty frustrating times, back then.”
Now a candidate for his first-ever All-Australian jumper and back as a permanent fixture in the Collingwood side, the reliable stopper is pondering the future.
He does not have a contract for 2010 and he knows his future could be dictated by an end-of-season chat with the coach.
A premiership this year might also make the decision for him. But at this stage both body and mind are willing.
“Hopefully I can go around again next year,” he said.
“At this stage I’d like to play again. I suppose when you have a bit of team success you want to try to hang around as long as you can and try to get the ultimate success that we’re striving for.”
His time on the sidelines last year – predominately with foot and groin injuries – has him reinvigorated and might even prolong his career.
“That’s what I try to say to Mick and everyone,” he said.
“I’m really only about 29. I’ve had a couple of years off and I’m pulling up really well this year.
“I don’t really know why. I can’t really put it down to anything but it could be that I had that year off to freshen up and didn’t have the bumps and that sort of thing.”
