Thursday: The prince of Collingwood’s last training session
“Enjoy the week” is the first thing people say when your team has made it into the grand final. What does that actually mean? Read every word written about your club, listen to every talkback call, and go to every training, parade and rewatch every old game you can handle?
Does it mean stumbling through the hours mourning past grand final losses? It’s hard to think that 1990 and 2010 actually happened.
For us, “enjoy the week” is about enjoying the hot shots of anticipation you get for these six days. It’s not really about what happens from 2.30pm Saturday, it’s about imagining what could happen, the high-fives, hugs, and tears.
More than 20,000 of us were at the Pies’ last training this morning. MAGIC vibe. We won the scratch match, Nick Daicos dominated and Pendles kicked a lovely goal.
There were big cheers when Billy Frampton marked and kicked it through the middle.
What does enjoying grand final week really mean?
I saw a woman wearing the best t-shirt ever that said: “Never underestimate a woman who understands football” and admired a car done up in black and white.
Here’s the magic. A single magpie camped high in a light tower. At a lull during the scratch match it swooped down, and did laps inside the playing field.
The crowd all watched, stunned.
Magpies living around runways were the least likely to make a quick getaway in response to approaching aircraft, according to a study.Credit: Victoria Department of Environment.
It was like in the great footy play, The Club, where stoned player, Geoff Heywood watched a seagull instead of playing the game.
We were watching a magpie, and it was not just any magpie. This was the prince of magpies, dazzling with blasts of pure black and white every time the wing caught the sun.
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Die-hard fans will know I borrowed this description of flight from the play, but that’s exactly what we all experienced today — pure, dreamlike and magic.
Two more sleeps.
Wednesday: Jen2310 is on the money as grand final fashion turns fans into nervous Nellies
Just now, it’s confirmed that Billy Frampton IS IN. Amazing, and without fanfare, Jen2310 called it before anyone else.
There was a lot of fashion talk about Nick Daicos’ haircut yesterday. So let’s talk about grand final fashion and its link to magic, superstition and love. As you read this, Pies and Lions supporters have a big selection dilemma clouding their brains.
What am I going to wear, and if I get it wrong, will it affect the game’s result?
I’ve asked some of my footy bozo mates and got some nervous answers.
One, perplexed – should he suit up in the op-shop jacket on which he painted a big 4 in honour of Alan Didak in 2010? Brayden Maynard has the 4 now so that’s cool, but sadly, the jacket was worn in 2018, and we all know about that awful day.
Alan Didak in action at the MCG.Credit: Sebastian Costanzo
Will another wear his sleeveless jumper bought for the 1990 granny? Apart from being a potential Antiques Roadshow subject, it’s worked this year.
Then there’s my mate who must wear the scarf his late yia-yia knitted 40 years ago. This hit me because the scarf I’ll wear has a similar story, knitted over a summer many years ago by a friend’s mum who isn’t doing too well right now.
That’s it. Every yellowing, knitted scarf you’ll see this Saturday was made by someone over many hours with loving concentration.
Glenn Peters hangs his Pies scarf outside his window.
Every stained and mouldy jumper you see has its story, a story of an aunty taking you to the footy when you were six, the deathly quiet drive home after a loss, or a night we won by a point.
My old scarf is hanging out my front window right now, but it will get around me for every second of Saturday’s game.
Tuesday: Fred gets the Daicos cut, Jen says Frampton will replace McStay as I am hit with 371 Magpies-related messages
I’m still trying to work out the Brownlow. Lachie Neale won, but my records had our Nick Daicos at around 60 votes. Go figure.
It was an exciting night, with a new Brownlow record in our household – it took a whopping 83 minutes for my so-not-into-footy wife to walk in and ask: ″Remind me. Why do they televise this garbage?”
Usually, this quip lands within the first half hour.
Daicos, hands down best hair winner at the Brownlow on Monday.Credit: Getty
The Brownlow gave me a chance to marvel at Nick Daicos’ wonderful hair. Exquisitely shaved to zero, high bowl above the ears and a V-Fade at the back – like all players do right now. I know that it’s called a V-Fade because the barber corrected my little guy, Fred, when he asked for a “Nick Daicos cut” last week.
I took the kids to open training this morning to take in the sunny nervousness of 5000 of my black-and-white breed. I judge it all on vibe and love. The more the players look like they love each other, the better the chance of a grand final win.
But the real master of picking player form, and unsung hero of Collingwood content is Twitter and Instagram supporter, @Jen2310.
We don’t know much about her. She’s no like and subscribe attention seeker. She just tweets at every training and notices what other people don’t see. Whatever she tweets, you’re deadset sure that’s what’s going to happen.
And as I type this diary, she’s made the big call on who will be replacing Daniel McStay (not Andrews).
Billy Frampton at training.Credit: Getty Images
Pies nuffies like me and my bozo mates, we thank you, Jen, for your wonderful service.
How many Pies-related messages did I get yesterday? 371, and yes, I’m still, only just, a high-functioning adult.
Monday: A one-eyed Pies supporter and ‘high-functioning’ adult
Grand final week. Oh, my heart. In my adult life, I’ve been to well over 600 Collingwood games. There’s been winning and losing grand finals. I’ve hugged many strangers over the years when the siren’s sounded, and I’ve broken down in tears (thank you to the 10-year-old who picked me up off the floor when Jamie Elliot kicked that goal last year).
Forget Rome, I can think about Collingwood every 10 or so minutes, and sometimes much, more than that.
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I’m one of those Collingwood supporters, and surprisingly despite all this, I’m also a high-functioning adult.
Friday night’s prelim final – wow. I did not enjoy it. The last six minutes was torture. When the siren went, me and my friends who’ve been with me at the footy over 30 years cried out a heap of ‘WE DID IT’ followed by jugs full of ‘WE’RE IN THE GRAND FINAL’. It was wild. We love each other and we love the Pies.
The same group reconvened via zoom Sunday morning to buy grand final tickets. Gazillions of laptops out, refreshing that damn Ticketek page. But WE DID IT. We got tickets. Commiserations to those who couldn’t.
Monday has seen a lot of SMS group discussion (138 notifications today!), about what the hell we’re going to do with Daniel McStay out. We haven’t cracked it yet.
Forget Rome, I can think about Collingwood every 10 or so minutes.
This afternoon I took my kids, Martha, 9, and Fred, 5 to the craft shop to buy cardboard to make signs, and black & white bunting and streamers to do up the front of the house. TIP: Crafternoons help the nerves.
And it’s Nick Daicos’ Brownlow tonight. Then early to bed, if the count ever ends, so we can go to open training first thing tomorrow morning. I can’t wait.
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