IT'S THE morning after Collingwood’s shattering Anzac Day loss to Essendon, and the wet, cold, gloomy weather matches the mood in Magpie heartland.

But out of the chill, deep in the bowels of an ancient Collingwood watering hole, four passionate Pies share stories that will warm the cockles of aching black-and-white hearts.

And there will be tears: of joy, sadness, pride, gratitude.

To celebrate Collingwood's 125th birthday, the AFL Record has arranged a meeting of Magpie minds: legendary full-forward Peter McKenna, 1990 premiership skipper and club games record-holder Tony Shaw, long-serving president Eddie McGuire and cheersquad cult figure Jeff 'Joffa' Corfe.

We’re at a sacred Magpie historical site – the Grace Darling Hotel in Smith St, Collingwood. A bluestone establishment built in 1854, ‘The Grace’ is one of Melbourne’s oldest pubs.

It’s also where discussions were held that led to the formation of what became Australia’s most famous sporting institution – Collingwood Football Club, EST 1892.

The night before, McGuire had reportedly been “visibly angry” in the Pies’ rooms post-match. 

It’s clear his mood could determine the success of our gathering. McGuire had earlier mentioned on his breakfast radio show that he would be here and, consequently, he will be door-stopped on his way out by TV reporters asking about Nathan Buckley’s coaching future.

But first, McGuire proves more expansive as he talks all things Collingwood with his confederates in what will amount to a timely Collingwood love-in.

Eddie McGuire and Tony Shaw chew the fat over their love of the Pies. Pictures: AFL Photos

There will still be talk of tough times – much of which will prove instructive to the Pies’ present predicament – but McGuire remains upbeat.

“I can’t think of anything I’d rather do today,” McGuire declares, “than put on the tie and be proud to be a Collingwood person; to live by the ‘side by side’ (ethos), and to reflect on the fact that this meeting 125 years ago – in the depths of a Depression that hit the working-class people of Collingwood harder than most – was about trying to lift the spirits of people who’d been left behind. That’s what our club is all about.”

We’ve stepped down a well-worn flight of stone stairs into the old basement cellar, where it’s said Collingwood’s founders hatched their plans.

“Jeez, you can really feel the vibe in here,” Shaw says, surveying the cosy, candlelit room which now hosts private functions.

Corfe ponders: “I wonder if those wonderful men who sat here all those years ago ever imagined what they were about to create? I’d give anything to go back in time and be a fly on the wall.”

Peter McKenna and Jeff 'Joffa' Corfe share some memories of the black and white. Picture: AFL Photos

Just as current fans would’ve loved to have done in this case. Each member of this quartet feels honoured to represent the club on this special occasion. 

They’re also rapt to be in each other’s company, as they share great mutual admiration and a brotherhood forged on both agony and ecstasy.

“I genuinely love these three blokes,” McGuire says.

McKenna, the humble former Magpie “rock star”, was the idol of the other three.

Shaw: “‘Macca’ was the greatest drop-punt kick I’ve seen. They went dead straight.”

McGuire: “Peter McKenna was the reason I barracked for Collingwood. I fell in love with Peter and then I fell in love with Collingwood.”

McGuire hails Shaw as “the epitomy of everything that’s Collingwood – one of our greatest players and greatest people”; who has always offered the president “frank and honest” feedback and “the benefit of his intellect and passion for the club”.

Corfe feels somewhat embarrassed to be sitting with three of his heroes, and thanks each of them individually for the joy they’ve brought him.

“I wouldn’t be here if it wasn’t for this bloke (McGuire). He’s always backed me,” Corfe says. “We’re all indebted to Eddie. He walked into our club when it was on its knees and he saved it and lifted us back to the top.”

McKenna: “People say, ‘Oh, that bloody Eddie McGuire.’ But they also say, ‘We’d love to have him as our president.’”

Corfe – whom McGuire once said was “as rough as hessian undies” – is praised for his unwavering Pie passion, his football knowledge, and for his big ideas: the Jock McHale Medal for the premiership coach, and blanket collections for the homeless at Collingwood games.

But it wouldn’t be a gathering of hardened football figures without the odd sledge.

In extolling the virtues of Shaw as a prolific, courageous on-baller, McKenna adds: “And, of course, he was a long kick.” Of course, he wasn’t, so cue the belly laughs.

There’s lots of laughter. Of Corfe, McKenna says: “I tell everyone that my mate Joffa is an absolute gentleman. No one believes me.”

All but McKenna were childhood Pies fans. McKenna was a “crazy” Essendon supporter but was sold on Collingwood when he walked into Victoria Park as a recruit in 1965, revelling in the premiership memorabilia, stories of the glory days of the 1920s and ’30s under McHale, and interactions with club legends such as coach Bob Rose and Harry Collier, with the latter taking players to schools for footy clinics.

McKenna: “There was just something special about being a Collingwood player.”

McGuire: “They say, ‘Be careful meeting your heroes, you’ll be disappointed.’ But I’ve found Collingwood people, particularly these two guys (McKenna and Shaw), they’re everything you could hope for and more. They welcome you into the club.

“They’ve never stopped giving to Collingwood. Peter learned it from Harry Collier, who probably learned it from Bill Proudfoot or Jock McHale.

“That unity is in the DNA of our club. You feel it sitting here in this dungeon, and it’s still the same at the Holden Centre.”

The Magpies’ spiritual home, Victoria Park, holds a special place in their hearts. Shaw, McGuire and Corfe first went there as young boys when McKenna was in his pomp.

A six-year-old Corfe was “surrounded by old ladies whose language was quite startling at the time – not now, but it was then”.

McGuire’s first trip to ‘Vic Park’ was also the first time he’d “felt part of a community”.

McKenna also enjoyed it from the other side of the fence: “It was an amazing feeling with black and white everywhere and all of them being one-eyed Collingwood. No wonder we hardly lost there.”

They fondly recall trainer John MacGibbon waving a towel to fire up the Magpie Army, and usually the team would lift.

Corfe: “As a kid, I thought, ‘I’m in heaven.’”

McKenna has us in stitches as he reminisces about post-match gatherings when each player had to sing a song.

Reminded that he surely wouldn’t have had an issue given his brief pop-music career, McKenna jests: “Well, yes, I was the professional among them.”

He adds: “I sang Galway Bay for 11 years. ‘Jerker’ (Graeme Jenkin) sang I’ve Got A Lovely Bunch Of Coconuts. ‘Tuddy’ (Des Tuddenham) sang 35 verses of Click Go The Shears. Wayne (Richardson) thought he was Tom Jones – he’d sing Green, Green Grass Of Home …

“Elsie Rose, Bob’s lovely wife, was a professional singer and she had to put up with us.”

The Roses – a clan that included Bob’s younger brother Kevin (also a club stalwart) – loom large in the psyche of all present.

Bob Rose was arguably the club’s greatest player and one of the game’s unluckiest coaches, losing three Grand Finals by a total of just 15 points (during a horror stretch in which the Pies lost eight Grand Finals and drew another before breaking a 32-year drought in 1990).

McKenna: “Bobby was a beautiful man and we just loved him so much.”

Shaw was part of a family dynasty himself – his brothers Ray, Neville and the late Kelvin played for the club (the latter at under-19 level), as did nephews Rhyce and Heath, while son Brayden spent two years on the senior list.

Shaw: “Bob and Elsie were like your parents.”

McGuire fondly recalls being a young reporter when Bob Rose introduced him to someone as “a Collingwood man”.

McGuire: “Ohh. Don’t worry about knighthoods, that was the ultimate.”

Fast forward to late in the 2010 drawn Grand Final against St Kilda. McGuire ducks down into the rooms to clear his head and sees Elsie Rose sitting at a table by herself, gripped by that familiar feeling of dread. McGuire hugs her.

“So the next week (when Collingwood won the replay), I got emotional thinking about Elsie and all these wonderful Collingwood people who’d given everything to the club and never taken anything.”

McKenna reveals that he, Tuddenham and Len Thompson visited Rose on his deathbed in 2003: “Bob told the nurse, ‘These are my three superstars.’ We had tears in our eyes. When the nurse left, Bob said, ‘I let you blokes down.’ We said, ‘No, Bob, we let you down.’”

McKenna’s only Grand Final appearance was under Rose in 1970 when the Magpies surrendered a 44-point half-time lead to Carlton.

“That hurt us. I still get angry that we blew our chance,” he says.

Collingwood has made a record 43 Grand Final appearances (14 more than any other club) for 15 flags (behind only Carlton and Essendon’s 16). The heartaches, almost as much as the successes, have defined the club over the past half-century.

Shaw: “Great people deserve to have great things happen for them, but they’ve taken it with so much dignity. I wouldn’t have – I’d have been bitter for the rest of my life.”

Corfe: “After a Grand Final loss to Carlton, our president John Hickey said, ‘Our heads are bloodied but not bowed.’ That gave me goosebumps. We are never bowed.”

McGuire: “As a young boy, hope sprung eternal. We were a chance every week and we usually won. The second-best feeling in life is waking up on Grand Final day knowing you’re in it. The best thing, of course, is waking up on the Sunday after you’ve won it.”

McKenna’s and McGuire’s greatest moment in football was one and the same – McKenna presenting the 2010 premiership cup, an honour arranged by McGuire.

McGuire, his eyes moistening and his voice breaking, says: “That moment meant everything to me.”

Then it’s McGuire who places a consoling hand on Shaw’s arm as the former skipper talks about the devastating death of premiership teammate Darren Millane in a car accident in October 1991.

Shaw: “I broke down at my mother’s funeral and on a par with that was having to hold it together while doing a (eulogy) at Darren’s funeral. I’ve never met a more loyal person. I still get goosebumps talking about him.”

Lifting the mood again, Shaw speaks of his long affinity with Millane’s best mate Denis Banks: “‘Banksy’ and I played against each other in juniors and our mums would swear at each other across the ground, and then they’d get together at the quarter breaks for a smoke, before going back and doing it all again!”

Among other fondly recalled players are usual suspects Len Thompson, Wayne Richardson, Peter Daicos, Gavin Brown, Nathan Buckley and Dane Swan.

McKenna loved Barry Price, who regularly delivered the ball on to his chest, and repeats Lou Richards’ old story that McKenna would lovingly tuck Price into bed on Friday nights.

The best Pies player McKenna saw in his time, “who would’ve been an absolute legend if he wasn’t (knocked out behind play)”, was goalkicking midfielder John Greening.

Shaw rates ‘Fabulous’ Phil Carman as the most skilled player he’s seen behind Gary Ablett snr, but laments that Carman was “as mad as a meat axe”.

Pies fans are renowned for being mad, too, but Corfe stresses: “Lots of rubbish is said about Collingwood fans. When I call out for help with a charitable cause for example, the Collingwood people respond big time. We’re everyone from everywhere, and we’re a big loving family.”

McKenna agrees, recalling a home game when a female Pies fan belted his fearsome opponent Ray Biffin over the head with an umbrella.

McKenna: “I said, ‘Good onya, love.’”

Corfe: “It was probably my mum.”

McKenna adds: “I won cars two years’ running in popular player competitions run by newspapers, but they stopped it after that because I was going to keep winning cars with all the votes I got from those magnificent Magpies fans.”

Shaw: “I would’ve won a car for most hated player!”

There’s only love in this room.

Shaw: “The club’s part of you. It allowed me to live a dream, and it gave me a lifestyle after football and set up my whole life.”

An emotional Corfe says: “I had a rough early life but this club, by virtue of its existence, saved my life. The club’s everything to me, and I owe it everything.”

The last word goes to McGuire: “My love of Collingwood manifested itself in a career that changed my life. I’m a proud Australian and a proud Victorian, but I’m proudest of being regarded as a Collingwood man.”

POSTSCRIPT: The 1-4 Magpies toppled the 5-0 Cats to breathe new life into their season. As McGuire might say, what a big week it’s been in football.