In a new series featured in the club's Official CFC MatchDay Program, "A conversation with..." interviews a former Magpie and finds out how life has progressed since wearing the famous black and white stripes.

The first feature kicks off with 1990 premiership player Shane Morwood.  Click here to download the FREE Official MatchDay Program and read the full interview (.pdf)

In a side renowned for its hard edged approach, Shane Morwood was one of Collingwood’s classiest performers throughout the 1980s and early 1990s. The 191cm defender was a member of Collingwood’s drought breaking premiership in 1990, and ended his decorated career in 1993.

A favourite of the Magpie Army, Morwood calls Collingwood ‘his home’, and spoke to collingwoodfc.com.au on the eve of the Magpies clash with the Swans, the team he began with in 1981.

What were the major differences between the two clubs (from what you noticed)?
Probably the financial side of things, in relation to what was available to you as a player, at the Swans (all you had) was one pair of shorts, one pair of socks for the year and that was it, whereas at Collingwood, you got three or four pairs of each. If you lost your pair of shorts or socks, it was easy to get it replaced, so I certainly went from boiled lollies to chocolate.

Was that something that impacted on the field?
No, not really, I just thought that there was a different environment, or a different culture, which contrasted. Obviously the Swans went up to Sydney as a financial decision, to try and support themselves, as they didn’t have the supporter base here in Melbourne, so whether it helped us at game time or not, I don’t know. It’s hard to define.

What was it like to initially play against your old side?
That first time you play against your old team, it’s hard to put a word to describing it. It certainly felt uneasy going from being mates to all of a sudden playing against them. It was uncomfortable, I suppose, in a way. We got the first one out of the way, but from there it was OK. It’s just being away from the club, the distance between you from a friendship type point of view, becomes greater and greater, so therefore it’s not as bad when you’ve got to play them again.

Was that one of the reasons behind the move to Collingwood from the Swans?
It was because they moved to Sydney, there was no other reason beside that. It wasn’t a financial decision or anything like that. I was quite happy in Melbourne and didn’t want to leave the Melbourne area. I’d been up to Sydney a couple of times and didn’t really like it, and I was pretty young at the time (Morwood was 21-years-old when he left the Swans at the end of 1982), and the club, in Sydney, weren’t amicable in the sense of allowing me to live in Melbourne and play in Sydney, which was a bit of a contradiction, as a lot of players ended up staying in Melbourne throughout ’83, I think, and maybe ’84, and playing up. There were a handful who did that and trained with Port Melbourne, from memory, such as Bernie Evans and David Rhys-Jones, those type of guys were able to do that.

Did the club offer you a part time job, both in your time at the Swans and the Magpies?
With the Swans, no. I had a job at the time, anyway. I was an apprentice printer, what they call a lithographic printer. I gave that up in 1985.

In discussing Pies-Swans games, do you recall much of the Round One loss to Sydney in 1987, when Brown, Crosisca, and others debuted?
I actually did my knee on the Tuesday night before the start of that season. We trained out at Waverley, and I did the posterior cruciate ligament in my knee, so because of that I didn’t actually start playing until about Round 14 or 15. I did my knee, and Daics (Peter Daicos) did his knee as well, so we both came back at the same time in around Round 14 or 15, or something like that, so I only played about seven games that year, I think. We had a lot of young kids come through at that time, we had a lot of injuries to pretty good senior players which made it pretty hard, and we finished down near the bottom I think. In 1988 we obviously had a full squad, a few new recruits, and the rest is history I suppose. We played finals and lost the double chance in ’88, and lost in round one of the finals the next year, but then in 1990 we finally did it.

In your early years you were a prolific goal scorer, before switching to half back - which position did you prefer?
Well, half back I enjoyed, and that probably came about from the knee injury in ’87, in ’86 and part of ’85 I was sort of ruck-roving and playing at half forward, and my comeback game was against the Swans in Sydney in ’87, and Leigh (Mathews) came up to me during the week and said ‘We’re going to play you back in this week’, because I’d had one game in the reserves, with Daics out at Waverley against North, and we both finally came in the next week against the Swans, and Leigh said ‘I might throw you at full back and play you on Capps (Warwick Capper)’, so I said ‘Yeah, doesn’t matter mate, no worries’, so that’s where I ended up at full back, centre half back, back flank, and just settled around the area.

Of course, the 1990 flag - to what extent do the consequences of winning the flag resonate in your life today? Is it something that still gets brought up a lot no matter where you go?
Yeah it does mate, fairly often, doesn’t matter who you’re speaking to whether it’s work or social related, they always say ‘You were in the 1990 premiership team’, so it always brings the comments whether they’re Collingwood supporters or non-Collingwood supporters. Obviously the non-Collingwood supporters aren’t too happy that we won it!

Being remembered in that way is something you’d obviously be very proud of?
I think it’s great to be remembered in that way, as opposed to someone who lost a Grand Final. That would really irk you, people saying ‘oh, you lost to Essendon’, for example. I was listening to SEN late last year, and Timmy Watson was on, and he was talking about how he won three flags (in 1984, 1985 and 1993), but he still can’t get over the loss in 1990. It’s amazing, because he’s had three wins, but that loss still irks him.

Click here to download the FREE Official MatchDay Program and read the complete interview (.pdf)

Shane Morwood profile
DOB: 12 December 1961
Recruited from: Noble Park
Height: 191cm
Weight: 83kg
Debut (VFL): Round 14, 1981 v Fitzroy at Lake Oval.
Debut (Collingwood): Round 5, 1983 v Hawthorn at Victoria Park.
Last Game: Round 22, 1993 v Adelaide at Football Park
Games: 212 (South Melbourne 17; Collingwood 195)
Goals: 124 (South Melbourne 13; Collingwood 111)
Guernsey number: 41 (South Melbourne), 7 (Collingwood)
Honours: Collingwood Premiership Team 1990, VFL Team of the Year 1988, Victoria State of Origin team 1988-1990.

32nd most games played for Collingwood. 64th most goals kicked.