Age journalist Michael Gleeson has released his new book, Cakewalk, celebrating the 20-year anniversary of the 1990 Collingwood premiership. In a series of excerpts, Gleeson recounts the memorable path to one of the most revered flag successes in club history.
Click here to read the first excerpt about the Gippsland bush camp.
The Parade
In Grand Final week, Leigh Matthews instructed only the 23 players in contention for selection to remain on Victoria Park for training. The decision upset several fringe players, who felt they had been part of the team’s journey to that point. One was Brian Taylor.
In that morning’s newspaper, full-forward Brian Taylor had been quoted as being upset and slighted that all but the last 23 players had to leave the training field on Thursday night. Taylor had been among those asked to walk off. He told the newspaper reporter on the sidelines that Leigh Matthews had been disrespectful in sending the players off. Taylor, suffice to say, knew he was not going to be playing on the Saturday and that this would in all likelihood be his last formal training session as an AFL player. Matthews argues the only intent was to clear the field of as many people as possible to do a centre corridor drill; there was no thought given to hurting anyone’s feelings.
“I thought that was a slap in the face, not just to me but to all of the guys that came off the ground and who had contributed in the last few weeks,” Taylor said. “There is no guy I respect more than Leigh Matthews, with what he did at that club to bring a level of discipline. Collingwood was not the best team in the comp in 1990 - they were about the fourth or fifth best team in it - but they were the most committed group and the camaraderie was unbelievable. Discipline was at an all-time high and that was all due to Leigh Matthews and that was why they won. I look back now and think he was fantastic with what he did for that club. So I don’t have any sourness about that time.”
Click here to read the second excerpt about the side's ability to overcome the Colliwobbles
Neither Matthews nor Shaw were the types to be distracted by things outside their control; both were able to put aside issues like Taylor’s comments to the newspaper. They were also happy to go along with the ride of Grand Final week and indulge it. It was not every day a tree-lopper from Reservoir was feted through Melbourne’s main street. Matthews’ reasoning was that something like a city parade was so far removed from the game it couldn’t possibly influence or distract him.
“The experience of actually being part of the Grand Final week is important so I said to the players, ‘Go and enjoy the Grand Final Parade, wave to the crowd, because it’s got nothing to do with what’s going to happen tomorrow.’ The focus is on the game itself and what’s going to happen in the two hours of the game, the us versus them. The ability to not allow the peripheral hype to get into your psyche is part of what the competitive challenge is for players and coaches. I think that’s one thing I was always good at,” Matthews said.
