Each played in one of the biggest finals boilovers in recent memory, the 2002 qualifying final, which saw Collingwood - minus Nathan Buckley - produce a remarkable away win over Port Adelaide at AAMI Stadium.
Didak, Tarrant and Johnson were Magpies who were 21 and under; Burgoyne was playing with his brother Peter at Port Adelaide; and that man Buckley, who will coach in a final for the first time on Friday night, was sitting in the stands missing what was Collingwood's first final since his first year at the club in 1994.
That match, which would prove a finals springboard for the club, took place 10 years ago this week and remains firm in the mind of all those who attended it, or watched it live on television.
Against the odds, and against most expectations, the Magpies led from start to finish to record what one newspaper journalist said was the club's greatest finals upset since that famous 1958 Grand Final win over Melbourne.
Only three of the 52 tipsters in the three leading Melbourne newspapers - the Herald Sun, The Age and The Australian - picked Collingwood to win.
When you consider the fact that two of those who chose the Pies were the Herald Sun's Kiss of Death and The Australian's football columnist - a bloke called Mick Malthouse, who happened to earn his primary income as coach of Collingwood, it showed how virtually no one expected the Pies to beat the minor premiers.
The earlier clash at the same venue had been close. Anthony Rocca missed a late shot with seconds left which would have drawn the game in Round 9 and the feeling from that match was stirred when the Power's Kane Cornes gave a one-fingered salute at the end of the match.
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Anthony Rocca and Glenn Freeborn rue missed opportunities in front of goal late in Collingwood's five-point loss to Port Adelaide in round nine, 2002.
The return game was always going to be one with feeling. But few thought it would be a close one. Port Adelaide had clearly been the best team of the home-and-away season, while Collingwood was not only without its best player, Buckley, who had a hamstring issue, it had lost three of its previous four matches.
On the Monday before the game the players had a dinner where comedian Vince Sorrenti was the guest speaker. One of Sorrenti's catch-cries was "GGRREEAATT" and that would be one of the themes of the week for the Collingwood footballers leading into the Port Adelaide game.
It would prove a "GGRREEAATT" result, as Buckley would say afterwards.
Malthouse, in his third season as Magpies' coach, had constructed a team of hard workers combined with some genuine stars, making them believe in themselves. But he was adamant in telling the media pre-game that all the pressure was on Port Adelaide, whose AFL finals record prior to the game stood at 0-3.
It would only get worse for the Power before it got better.
Asked if he believed in miracles in the lead-up to the game, Malthouse at first laughed, then added: "We are under the full realisation that our form has tapered." Then, the coach put it out there that Port Adelaide's questionable ability to handle the September pressure could be an issue for the home side.
Malthouse ruled Buckley out of the game on the Tuesday, but Port Adelaide coach Mark Williams didn't believe it. Williams, who had played six finals in 135 games with the Magpies, claimed: "I don't trust that. I'd be 90 per cent sure he'd play - it's such a vital game."
Alan Didak, Anthony Rocca and Rupert Betheras all played key roles in Collingwood's famous 13-point victory.
Buckley didn't play. The Magpies dropped veteran Mark Richardson, who cruelly missed the chance to play his first final, as well as Mark McGough and Brodie Holland, while Malthouse punted on run-with player Carl Steinfort, welcoming back Rocca (knee) and Didak (virus).
Many Collingwood supporters travelled over to AAMI Stadium for the match, though the crowd of 33,131 was concerning for the AFL. It was boosted by a carload of proud parents, with Paul Licuria's mum and dad and Anthony Rocca's parents car-pooling to see their sons play their first final. It would be worth the trip.
Collingwood defender James Clement sensed something not long after the first bounce - he believed Port Adelaide was too cocky and felt it was a fait accompli.
Speaking later, Clement would say: "At the start of the game the banter among them was that it was probably going to be an easy game. They were pretty confident. I think right until the end of the game, they thought they were just going to overrun us."
Collingwood started the match full of running, with Rupert Betheras snapping a goal to give his team the lead after only a minute's play. The Magpies would never relinquish the lead, kicking what was the best first-term score by a Victorian side at AAMI Stadium that season - 5.3 (33) to 3.1 (19).
At the first change, the difference was 12 points. And at every change, Collingwood president Eddie McGuire's blood started to boil. It wasn't the score that made him angry, it was the scoreboard announcer, who constantly urged the crowd to unite behind Port Adelaide with a few comments aimed at the umpires as well.
McGuire would say after the match: "It was fair dinkum amateur hour. The game was in the balance and and you've got some lunatic on the scoreboard saying 'barrack harder' and 'that wasn't a free kick'. Something like that can incite a crowd to riot."
Rupert Betheras, seen shrugging Jared Poulton's tackle, got the Pies off to a flyer with two first quarter goals.
The announcer wasn't all that well known in Melbourne at the time, though he would be in the future. His name was Roger Rasheed, the brother of Port Adelaide's then media manager Hitaf Rasheed, who had briefly been at Sturt and had been a decade earlier a tennis player ranked 192 in the ATP tennis rankings.
Nine months later, Rasheed would become Lleyton Hewitt's coach, a positon he would hold for three and a half years.
Five minutes into the second term, Collingwood had pushed its lead out to 27 points. But the home side kept coming. Nick Stevens scored a goal at the 25-minute-mark of the quarter to cut it back to one points before a goal to Ryan Lonie just near the half-time siren put the difference back to nine points.
At half-time Licuria's parents, Carmen and John, would have been happy they had made the trip across. By game's end, they were nearly delirious.
Licuria had been playing on the dangerous John Francou. Both players had 19 touches to half-time. But the performance of the 24-year-old Magpie in his 90th game - and 80th in black and white - would be the greatest of his career. He would have 21 touches in the second half in a tireless, inspirational effort.
Licuria's performance would be described in the Sunday Herald Sun as "one of the most influential individual finals performances in recent years.
It was the only time in his career that he would have 40 touches and it would yield 202 rankings points from Champion Data as he shut out Francou.
He would say after the game: "A lot of people questioned us being in the finals so it was just fantastic to come over here and win. The guys around me really helped out and I was lucky that the ball bounced my way."
Luck would play no part in Licuria's stellar performance. It was sheer hard work and determination.
Leon Davis celebrates with Chris Tarrant after the pair combined to kick the sealer with seconds remaining.
But it wasn't just the onballer who made a difference. Steven McKee delivered "the performance of his football life", according to the Herald Sun, while Josh Fraser struggled in the game. Simon Prestigiacomo held Warren Tredrea - whose dad, Gary, played 19 games for Collingwood from 1970-1972 - goal less.
Jason Cloke did a super job on Chad Cornes, while Scott Burns restricted the efforts of Josh Carr.
Leon Davis was doing a good job in attack, ever dangerous around goals, as were Nick Davis and Rocca.
Both sides kicked 4.2 in the third term, keeping the difference to nine points. Again the break in play brought out Rasheed to urge the South Australian crowd into action. So incensed was McGuire at three quarter-time that he rushed over to then AFL chief executive officer Wayne Jackson to register his disapproval.
With 12 minutes left on the clock, one of the most inspirational moments of the match took place, thanks to 21-year-old Ben Johnson.
Peter Burgoyne had taken a strong mark in attack, and with the Power 13 points down, it looked like a certain goal.
Enter Johnson, who just wouldn't say no. Burgoyne inexplicably decided to play on and ran into the goal-square before being dragged down by Johnson. It saved a certain goal and many believe it saved the match.
Rocca kicked a goal in the last term; Didak pushed the difference out to 20 points; the Power's Stuart Dew scored two goals to cut the margin back; before Leon Davis closed it out with a goal at the 27-minute-mark.
Anthony Rocca, Rupert Betheras, Tarkyn Lockyer, Steve McKee and Heath Scotland toast Collingwood's finest hour since the 1990 Grand Final as the siren sounds.
It was enough to eventually give the Magpies a 13-point win. There was almost a stunned silence amongst the Port Adelaide crowd, while many Collingwood supporters in the crowd - including the Licurias who had seen their son played his greatest game of football - proudly sang the theme song when the siren went.
The players embraced and dared to dream that the springboard might take them to a Grand Final, which it did, and to a premiership, which sadly it didn't.
Buckley forgot all about his hamstring issues, saying: "After the game, I reckon I nearly tore my hamstring running down the stairs to get to the boys."
Malthouse's plan to heap the pressure back on the Power was priceless as the home side melted under the strain.
In the rooms after the game the coach said cryptically: "I guess not every battle is won on the battlefield, is it?"
Port Adelaide skipper Matthew Primus was stunned by his side's unexpected loss at home, as Channel Ten's Gerard Whateley seeks an interview with a pack of overjoyed Collingwood players.
Having covered the game for the Sunday Herald Sun, I wrote at the time: "So Mick Malthouse knew what he was doing after all. After poking and prodding the fragile Port Adelaide psyche from a distance of more than 700km through the week, the Collingwood coach managed to do it up close and personal on Friday night."
Malthouse praised Licuria for his 40-touch game saying: "I love Paul Licuria. He is one of the greatest sportsmen who just gets the best out of himself."
Twenty days later, the coach and the tireless midfielder would be arm in arm, not in triumph, but in tears. Having won the preliminary final against Adelaide, Collingwood came agonisingly close to beating the Brisbane Lions in the 2002 Grand Final, but couldn't quite get over the line.
In keeping with that 2002 side - a team that Malthouse has always held dear - they were brave and went down by only nine points.
Emergency Mark McGough, Carl Steinfort and Eddie McGuire join the circle to produce a thunderous rendition of Good Old Collingwood Forever.
And when Licuria starting crying on the ground after the game, Malthouse hugged him and followed suit in a touching football moment that will long be recalled in Grand Final history.
Licuria would say: "Obviously, I would have loved to have had a photo winning the premiership and having tears of joy, but it wasn't to be."
But it wasn't through a lack of trying.
And that momentous win over Port Adelaide against the odds in the qualifying final will never be forgotten, and may even provide inspiration to this current Collingwood side as it faces a tough ask against Hawthorn on Friday night.
The agony and ecstasy of Collingwood's 2002 finals campaign through the eyes of Paul Licuria.
