Mirror moment: Everything old is new again at Collingwood

Now the club captain, it’s why he made a point of thanking past players from the podium on Saturday. “Collingwood’s not just any other team,” he said. “We really feel it when we interact with past players and see how they still care and are invested in our journey, so to be able to share it with them was cool.”

So what did past player-superstar-father Peter say to son and captain Darcy as they hugged minutes before the first bounce? “He just said, go get ’em,” Moore said. “I just said, I love you.”

Nathan Buckley was another of the line, achieving everything as player and coach of the Magpies except a premiership. He was enfolded into the celebrations on Saturday night. “‘Fly’ [McRae] spoke of how important he was,” said Kelly, “because a lot of the development of these boys came through him. Unfortunately for ‘Bucks’, he didn’t get what we got this time, but he’s very much a part of it.”

When the Magpies plummeted to 17th in 2021, and as the Eddie McGuire era gave way to the Jeff Browne era, the Magpies began to remake themselves with old boys Kelly and Wright in the back offices, but a fresh-faced outsider as coach (albeit that McRae had worked at the club previously).

It’s worked if not beyond their wildest dreams, then sooner than anyone thought they could be realised. Wright thought Collingwood was in for a painstaking rebuild. “‘Fly’ came in and his whole mantra is about winning and acting like winners in everything we do,” Wright said. “He’s been enormous for setting the standards. Everyone has bought in. We always talk about having deep wins and shallow losses. This’ll be a deep win.”

Kelly said that sometimes change was necessary for its own sake. “The difference is that maybe a few people who did not believe in themselves got the opportunity to play some different roles,” he said. Maybe the shackles came off. Maybe the new style of play that “Leppa” (assistant coach Justin Leppitsch) and the coaches brought in came at just the right time.

Collingwood 1990 premiership players, and now chief executive and football manager respectively: Craig Kelly (left) and Graham Wright.Credit: Getty Images

He also said that stability from boardroom to boot room was crucial.

So it was that as the change agent McRae paraded his triumphant team before the faithful this day, dotted around the background were several faces familiar from the galleries and honours boards. Call them ghosts of grand finals past, the friendly variety.

“That’s what footy clubs are about,” said Kelly. “Generations and relationships and bringing it all together to play their roles. It’s important. Sometimes you bring too many people back and it’s too much and not good, but Jeff’s done a good job of it.”

In 1990, the finals were extended by a week because of a Collingwood-West Coast qualifying final draw, which meant that the Magpies premiership celebrations flowed straight into the Copeland Trophy dinner and the next day into a flight to London. Some didn’t sleep for days.

Collingwood players celebrate with the 1990 premiership trophy.Credit: The Age

“We ended up at the airport very ordinary to fly out to London to play Essendon again,” said Wright. “We beat them again, which was a surprise because we weren’t in great nick.”

There was a break-in at Kelly’s house on Copeland night, which left him with less than 24 mostly unslept hours to get a new passport. “I like to think the boys will be a bit better prepared going into next year than Wrighty and I were,” he said. “I certainly was carrying about 30 kegs too much and we didn’t get going until midway through the year.”

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On the stage on Sunday, McRae did caution the sea of fans that some of the players were “dusty” and he didn’t mean Martin. Nonetheless, true to the McRae coaching philosophy, all were able to, let’s say, play their roles.

Wright now has played in and overseen premierships at Collingwood as well as helping Hawthorn to build Alastair Clarkson’s four premierships. He celebrated quietly, for a good reason. “There’s no better feeling than waking up on the day after you’ve been involved in a premiership,” he said. “It was great waking up today.”

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