Fans at Uniting AgeWell Strath-Haven Community are hopeful they’ll be singing it again when the final siren sounds tomorrow at the MCG.

Joyce Harriott, the great-aunt of Collingwood Football Club player Jaidyn Stephenson, will be among those watching the game.

She’s a Richmond supporter, but has changed her colours for the Grand Final weekend in support of her great-nephew.

Stephenson’s smiling face features on a laminated article Mrs Harriott has been brandishing in the lead-up to the game.

“Every paper has his name in it,” she said.

The 19-year-old’s talent was this year recognised with the AFL Rising Star award – a fact Mrs Harriott proudly shared when the Bendigo Advertiser visited.

She seemed even more chuffed that Stephenson took his mother to the Brownlow.

The privileges today’s AFL players enjoy could not be further from Nancy Carter’s recollections of the era when her brother, Ken Smale, was a Collingwood player.

She recalls the weekly pay packet for Victorian Football League players in the 1950s being £5 per week.

“It barely paid for his petrol,” Mrs Carter said.

She said her brother would drive his ute from Warracknabeal, in the Wimmera, to train and play for the team.

“He used to load the ute with Mallee roots,” Mrs Carter said.

Proceeds from the sale of the Mallee roots would supplement Smale’s income.

Collingwood Football Club remembers Smale, who will likely be at tomorrow’s game, as the club’s 20^th man for the 1958 premiership side.

Mrs Carter’s brother was Collingwood’s leading goalkicker in both 1955 and 1956.

“I have five brothers that played football. He was the only one in the VFL,” she said.

She has been a Collingwood fan ever since Smale was recruited to the side.

“Once you’re Collingwood, you’re always Collingwood,” Mrs Carter said.

There’s a chance she’ll be watching the game from the privacy of her room on Saturday, instead of with the rest of the residents.

“Then I can yell,” Mrs Carter said.

She believes Collingwood has ‘a sporting chance’ of taking home the premiership, but recognises they’ll have some tough competition.

“The other team have got some very big men,” Mrs Carter said.

Fellow Uniting AgeWell Strath-Haven resident Mike Dockey’s prediction for Saturday’s outcome can be summarised in one word: Collingwood.

He’s been a fan for more than 20 years, and a dedicated one at that. 

“I helped form the Collingwood supporter’s club in Bendigo,” Mr Dockey said.

The permanent member said he would also drive people down to Collingwood games in Melbourne.

Collingwood was Mr Dockey’s team of choice after migrating to Australia from England.

He was looking for a team with the same colours of his football club in the UK.

“Derby County was black and white,” Mr Dockey said.

When you mention the words ‘Collingwood fan’ to the staff at Strath-Haven, one resident immediately springs to mind – Pat Ryan.

They tell us she’s the ‘big one’ – the fan who lives and breathes Collingwood.

The aged care facility took Ms Ryan to a Collingwood game ‘a few years ago’.

You can bet she’ll be among the many fans throughout the region glued to the game tomorrow.

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