1958- 50 Years on
We dreamed the impossible dream.

This page acknowledges and gives thanks to our heros of 58

Just before approaching Frank Tuck for a photograph i was saddened for him This great Collingwood person had missed our 53 and 58 Premiership celebrations due to injury. Just before Frank had agreed to wear the Gold Jacket and pose with the 1958 Premiership Cup i put my arm around this wonderful Collingwood man and said i love ya mate. This was that type of night, The night we gave thanks and loved our beautiful hero's who were given no chance to beat Melbourne in that famous Grand Final ( most probably our most famous premiership of all time ).

Frank Tuck was a gentleman and himself became a little emotional, to be photographed with Frank Tuck will be something i will cherish forever. The night i met Peter Lucas i was humbled to be in Peter's presence a great Collingwood man who had all the time in the world to talk past and present Collingwood.

Eddie could not be in attendance as he is in the USA on business but left a DVD message and made these guys lifetime members let me tell ya their was not a dry eye in the joint. All agreed Eddie has been wonderful to our past players, The speech by eddie was one of his best as he thanked our 1958 warriors and recieved a standing ovation when finished, It was easy to cry for Collingwood last night Cry for our great club giving something back to a group of blokes who bled for Collingwood.

They showed footage of Hooker Harrison who had just belted a Melbourne player the room errupted into aplause, When the Melbourne player got up grimmaced and wobbled the applause became louder, Sadly for Hooker and Ray Gabelich both have passed on but one knew they were in attendance in spirit.
I had always wanted to meet Graeme Fellowes it was a dream last night to shake his hand and say thanks this bloke was judged by many to be best afield on that herioic day.

Our fill in Captain for the day the Great Murray Weideman, i wanted to grab Murray bring him home chuck him on a coat hook and feed him three times a day ( This bloke is what our beloved Collingwood is all about ) On that September day in 58 when the football world laughed at the Carringbush, Weideman told the boys him and ' Hooker ' Harrison had business to take care off, you guys keep playing the ball me and Hooker will get the bloody mongrel bastards.

Met Ron Reeves Brian Gray, Bob Greeve, Barry Donegan, Kevin Pay our leading Goal kicker in 1962, Kevin Rose, Ian Brewer, The great and wonderful Ken Turner, Jonh Henderson, Donald Dixon, Mike Delanty, Don Howell, Alan Wickes, Brian Gray, The lovely ken Smale our beautiful 19th man,
Mick Twomey a wonderful bloke and Collinwood man, Bill Serong, Harry Sullivan, And i met my childhood hero Jeff Clifton, I have all autographs from our 1958 playing list.

Many hours after the event it had sunk in how priveledged i was to be there and meet these Collingwood Giants, such was the ocassion of it all , I had trouble sleeping last night.

What our football club did for these guys last night was amazing, It felt good to love and respect these guys after 50 years. It felt good to be Collingwood, One cant help feel as though one will be a better Collingwood person because of the experience.

We will always love our 1958 Premiership team, Twenty beautiful men who made a pact before the game to destroy Melbourne and stop them from equalling our proud record of 4 Premierships in a row, To hear these guys recall the great pre-match speech from Phonse Kyne was just a ripper. Its a good life following the Magpies.
Will be a night i will never ever forget. Go pies you bloody marvellous bonza Magpies.
Live forever our 1958 Premiership warriors!!

The Pic with the Great Frank Tuck

The great Murray Weideman.Who would not allow Melbourne to beat us in 1958.

The team that will live forever

With Ian Bewer and good mate Des Luckman

Ian Brewer and the most famous flag in world wide sport!

With Annette and below Raylee both sisters of former player Brian Dorman from Mildura

Murray Weideman's contribution to the historic 58 Premiership side still has history books burning. He would lead our darling heroes onto the most famous of battlefields as the football world scoffed and laughed at his teams chances at having any sort of hope.

Probably best remembered today as Collingwood's much loved (and much loathed) 'enforcer' of the late 1950s and early 1960s, during the early part of his career Murray Weideman was actually more renowned for his aerial ability. He made his VFL debut in 1953, and was on the bench for that year's grand final, in which the Magpies downed Geelong. Weideman's more brutal side only really emerged later in the 1950s as he filled out physically and began to assume more of an on-field leadership role. When regular Collingwood skipper Frank Tuck was injured and unavailable for the 1958 grand final against Melbourne, Murray Weideman stepped into his shoes and took to the responsibility as though born to it. His deliberate and continuous intimidation of his star Melbourne opponent Ron Barassi was a major factor in the Magpies eking out a shock 3 goal win.

Weidemann was much more than just the footballing equivalent of a hit man, however. He won the Copeland Trophy for Collingwood's best and fairest player in 1957, 1961 and 1962, and was regularly among the Magpies' best players in important games. In 1964, after 180 VFL games and 262 goals, he accepted a job captain-coaching Albury in the Ovens and Murray Football League. After four seasons there, during which he steered his side to the 1966 premiership, he accepted a similar job with West Adelaide, which had been in the doldrums since the early 1960s. Weidemann promptly got the Blood 'n Tars into the finals, but they bowed out at the first hurdle against North Adelaide. They did slightly better in 1969, reaching the preliminary final before losing to Glenelg, but then Weideman opted to retire as a player. Without his inspirational on-field presence, Westies seemed to lose their way, finishing 6th in 1970, and 8th in 1971, after which 'The Weed' packed his bags. He made a brief return to coaching in 1975 with his old club Collingwood, but after a solid debut season which spawned an 11-9 record and 5th place on the ladder, the wheels fell off in spectacular fashion in 1976 as the club plummeted to its first ever wooden spoon.

It is as a player, however, that Murray Weideman will be best remembered, and his selection at centre half forward in Collingwood's official 'Team of the Twentieth Century' should help ensure that his feats continue to be celebrated for many years to come.

Phonse Kyne had done his best to motivate the boys before the clash. No one will ever forget the electricity in the rooms as he told his charges ' We were the men to decide if we wanted the Melbourne football club to equal our club with 4 premierships in a row.

Emphatically belying the fact that he looked rather more like an underfed schoolboy than a league footballer, Collingwood rover and wingman Thorold Merrett amassed 179 VFL games, 7 interstate appearances for the VFL, and two Copeland Trophies between 1950 and 1960. What the mere statistics do not reveal, however, is the verve, aggression, courage, determination and, above all, consummate skill with which those achievements were laced.
Aged just sixteen, Merrett made his Collingwood debut in 1950 against Footscray, and a couple of years later made the first of his Big V appearances. Standing just 168cm tall, and weighing barely 60kg, he was the smallest player on the field in virtually every game he played (as the above photograph starkly illustrates), and this, combined with his fearless attitude, made him extraordinarily susceptible to injury. Nevertheless, he knew no other way to play the game than with dynamic, wholehearted zeal and aggression, and there was a sense in which, during the 1950s, he personified the Collingwood spirit better than any other player.

Renowned for his copybook kicking style, which was almost unfailingly accurate, Merrett was alleged to have spent hours as a youngster repeatedly stab passing a ball through an old car tire from various distances. Such perfectionism was evidenced in other facets of his play, even down to the impeccable way in which he was always turned out.

A member of five Magpie grand final teams, the undoubted highlights of Merrett's career came in 1953 and 1958 when he helped his side to grand final victories over Geelong and Melbourne respectively. Listed high in the best players after the 1953 game, he was a widespread choice as best afield after a typically energetic and scintillating performance five years later.

In 1960, aged twenty-seven, injury brought Merrett's career to an end after he broke his leg for the second time and it failed to knit cleanly.

Thorold Merrett was selected on a wing in Collingwood's official 'Team of the Century'.

This pic show Thorold wearing the big V at Adelaide..
smallest player on the ground with a terrier like attitude.

The scribes were hailing Melbourne as champions.
And record breaker Norm Smith's legend complete.
They concluded as only formalities remained.

A Collingwood stalwart for a decade, Ken Turner packed plenty of ability, drive and courage into his slightly stocky 178cm, 76kg frame. A staunch Magpie supporter as a youngster, he worked his way through the club's junior ranks before making his senior VFL debut in the 5th round of the 1956 season against Carlton at Princes Park. On 16 September that year he lined up on a half forward flank in the losing grand final against Melbourne, and he would later play in the losing play-offs of 1960 and 1964 against the same opposition. Turner's proudest moment, however, came in the winning 1958 grand final - yet again against Melbourne - when his dynamic, strong marking performance on the wing belied the wet, slippery conditions. A VFL interstate representative on 7 occasions, the last of Turner's 170 VFL games came in the losing preliminary final of 1965 against Essendon when he was close to best afield. He booted a total of 56 goals in his career, and was perhaps a touch unfortunate never to win a Copeland Trophy although he almost invariably polled well. After retiring as a player he continued to serve the club he loved as a committee man.

Born 30 June 1935
Recruited from Thirds
First Played..Carlton round 5 1956
Last played..Essendon Preliminary Final 1965
Total Games played.. 171 day 4 night 7 interstate
Total goals kicked.. 56 Day 2 Night 1 interstate
Club Honours.. Runner up Copeland trophy 1958. Third in Copeland trophy 1961 and 1965.
Best player in finals in 1958
Deputy Vice Captain 1961-1965
Committee 1966-1972
Life member.
Interstate representative 1961-1962 and 1963.
VFL representative 1960 V Bendigo
Guernsey number 36-1965. 11-1957-61
3- 1962-65

Celebrating The heroes from 1958-50 years on to be continued...

We had every reason to be cocky in 1958

CLICK HERE  to read more about 'Cocky 1958'

1958 - 50 years on...continued...

The mid-1950s saw the emergence of arguably the most formidable force in Victorian football since the Magpies' mighty four--in-a-row' team of three decades earlier. Norm Smith was the instigator of this threat to the Collingwood legend, and Melbourne, which conclusively won the premierships of 1955-56-57, was the team. On 20 September 1958, in a scenario that no Hollywood script writer could have wished to surpass, the only team standing between the Demons and the immortality of four successive VFL flags was - Collingwood. Regarded by most as an ordinary team fuelled more by old-fashioned 'G and D' than by any innate football talent, embarrassingly thrashed by Melbourne in the 2nd semi final, missing both their skipper Frank Tuck and arguably their most talented player in Bill Twomey, the Magpies entered the 1958 grand final as the longest odds outsiders for years. The Demons, thought the experts, would be too quick, too skilled and much too cohesive for Collingwood, whose only potential trump card lay in the almost fanatical determination of its players, who 'Phonse' Kyne had ensured were imbued to the brim with awareness of and heartfelt devotion to the club's unique tradition, as well as an understanding of the damage to that tradition which would result from Melbourne emulating - and hence, inevitably, de-valuing - one of its chief cornerstones, the winning of an unprecedented four VFL flags in succession.

Grand final day was cool and very wet, but this did not prevent a large crowd of 97,956 turning up to see Melbourne explode out of the blocks in typical, vibrant, assured fashion. With 'big guns' Barassi, Mithen, Beckwith and Johnson firing, the Demons totally dominated the opening term, and when they entered the first change with a 5.1 to 2.2 lead the only question on most observers' minds - Collingwood supporters excepted - was 'how much Melbourne?'

During the 2nd term, however, a change came over the game. As the ground got heavier, so the pace slowed, and the normally elusive Melbourne players were at the wrong end of some fierce body clashes. Moreover, they reacted in such a way that Collingwood's 'enforcers', Murray Weideman and Barry 'Hooker' Harrison, sensing a weakness, "systematically roughed up the potential Melbourne match-winners, notably Barassi and Mithen, who seemed to be involved in almost every flare-up" . Slowly but surely, as Melbourne players concentrated on avoiding danger, or on 'evening up' with Harrison and Weideman, the Magpies began to make inroads into the deficit, adding 5.4 to 2.3 for the quarter to end up 2 points to the good at the long break.

The 3rd quarter brought more fiery incidents, but in between it was the Magpies who were playing nearly all the football, rattling on 5.3 to the Demons' 2 solitary behinds to more or less seal the game. Although Melbourne attacked relentlessly for most of the final term, the Collingwood backline, notably full back Harry Sullivan and back pocket Ron Reeves, reigned supreme, and when the final siren sounded the scoreboard confirmed what was arguably the biggest grand final boil-over in the VFL since Melbourne's triumph over Essendon precisely a decade earlier: Collingwood 12.10 (82); Melbourne 9.10 (64).

The Magpies' victory had been achieved by means of a quintessential team performance in which every player carried his weight. Even so, some individuals inevitably stood out, notably diminutive rover Thorold Merrett, who was credited with 25 kicks, ruckmen Graeme Fellowes and Ray Gabelich, half forward Bill Serong, wingman Ken Turner (21 kicks and 11 marks) - plus, of course, the aforementioned 'strong man' duo of Weideman and Harrison and, particularly in the final term, the last line defenders Reeves and Sullivan.

Despite the intensely physical nature of the contest, the umpires made only two reports: Melbourne's Ron Barassi was charged with striking Murray Weideman, and Barry Harrison was alleged to have charged Barassi. Both players were exonerated at the tribunal.

Frank Tuck missed out on the 1958 Grand Final due to injury as well as the 1953 Grand Final..was Frank Tuck cursed at birth ?

A half back flanker very much in the Collingwood tradition, Tough relentless and indifatigable. Frank Tuck gave the magpies excellent service in 131 VFL games between 1950 and 1959. He was amazingly unfortunate to miss out on both premierships during his career at Collingwood 1953 and 1959. suspended in 53 and whilst captian in 1958 could not take his place due to injury.
His misfortune includes playing in three losing Grand Final teams. Tuck came to the pies from Strathmerton and left the pies in 1960 to coach Corowa.
It would be amiss not to mention Frank Tuck great Magpie dogged by bad luck.

Collingwood's Peter Lucas was a half back flanker of the highest order, Who's ability to keep the the most dangerous opponents in check was perhaps the most noteworthy feature of his game. Pacy strong overhead and a fine kick, he did everything with smooth consistency that effectively doubled it's impact. His 177 VFL games between 1949 and 1959 included the winning Grand Final of 1958 over Melbourne, Injury having ruled him out of the previous 1953 Premiership. Peter Lucas returned to Collingwood as an administrator when his playing days were over

At 185cm in height, Collingwood's Mick Twomey was taller than his brothers Bill and Pat, and played most of his 157 VFL games between 1951 and 1961 as a ruckman. If his attitude occasionally seemed almost lackadaisical, he always seemed to raise his performance level a notch or two when it mattered most, such as in finals. Twomey's main strengths were his tremendous leaping ability, and his pace. He was widely acknowledged as the fastest ruckmen in the VFL for much of his career, boasting the same distinctive long striding running style as his oldest brother, Bill. Unlike his brothers, Mick Twomey was a right foot kick. He was capable of propelling the ball over enormous distances, but his accuracy often left much to be desired. Over the course of his career Twomey was a member of five Collingwood grand final teams, enjoying premiership success in 1953 and 1958.