Fremantle’s Andrew Wills flies high with Collingwood’s Alan Richardson watching on. Picture: CHANNEL 7
MELBOURNE v BRISBANE (at the MCG)
Round 12
June 15, 1997
Melbourne may have the wood over the current-day Brisbane, however this was certainly not the case when they first met back in 1997.
The Lions, having underperformed in the first half of the year, came into this match a disappointing 14th.
The Demons were dead last.
Despite their close proximity on the ladder, Brisbane were clearly the superior side, and demonstrated the gap by belting Melbourne to the tune of 85 points.
Only Todd Viney managed more than 18 disposals for the Demons on the day, while for Brisbane, Jarrod Molloy booted seven goals and Justin Leppitsch four.
Although they’d narrowly avoided a merger with Hawthorn the year previous, Melbourne were still seriously battling.
Caretaker coach Greg Hutchison had replaced Neil Balme two weeks earlier.
COLLINGWOOD v FREMANTLE (at Victoria Park)
Round 8
May 20, 1995
Having failed to win a game up to round seven, Collingwood made it two-from-two with a victory over fledgling Fremantle.
A monster nine-goal opening quarter saw Leigh Matthews’ Magpies lead by 66 points at half-time.
Fremantle hit back with seven goals to two in the third, but the home side steadied to leave 38 point winners.
Although Nathan Buckley managed 28 touches and three goals, and Saverio Rocca kicked six, Paul Williams earned maximum Brownlow votes for his three goals and 21 disposals.
This game is probably most notable, however, for being the highpoint in the career of the much-maligned Chris Groom.
Groom, most often remembered for being acquired by Fremantle in exchange for the drafting rights to dual Norm Smith Medalist and 340-gamer Andrew McLeod, booted five goals in what was his second game as a Docker.
He would don the purple (and green, white and red) on just five more occasions.
