MOST football fans know the tragic story of Darren Millane: just a year and a day after playing a key part in the Magpies' drought breaking premiership team of 1990, he lost his life in a car accident at the age of 26.
But not many will know the courage Millane showed during the 1990 finals series, when he carried a broken thumb into six consecutive matches, to be the player holding the ball triumphantly aloft once the final siren sounded in the Grand Final.
The Magpies' coach at the time, Leigh Matthews, was so taken by Millane's ability to play through pain that he nominated this as his No. 16 moment of finals greatness.
"Millane was the big story when he broke his thumb six weeks before and looked like missing out on the finals," Matthews said
"He was eventually able to take his thumb out of plaster each week to play footy and have it put back after the match. That was his ritual for those six weeks and he went through a lot of pain in the post-match over those six weeks.
"The karma, to be well in front and have the game won, and have the ball in his hands when the final siren went was something special.
"You could never quantify it, but it was clearly inspirational and something that we all remember as a great Grand Final moment."
The Magpies defeated Essendon in the 1990 Grand Final by 48 points to break a premiership drought stretching back to 1958. Millane finished with 28 disposals and five tackles in the game.
