Pies premiership great yet to rewatch 1990 Grand Final after ugly incident

Collingwood great Gavin Brown was one of the big stories of the club’s famous 1990 premiership win against Essendon.

The courageous wingman played at full-forward in the big game having kicked 49 overall for the season and 12 across the previous three finals.

With the Pies going without a premiership since 1958 – losing eight Grand Finals across that 32-year stretch – 1990 was perhaps the most famous victory in club history.

While Brown was one of the side’s key players, he didn’t feature for half of the game after being knocked out by Terry Daniher on the quarter-time siren with the Pies leading 14-17.

Brown reflected on that famous moment and coach Leigh Matthews grabbing him at half-time and yelling out to Daniher that he was ‘coming back’ for revenge in the second half of the game.

“He grabbed me and waited for TD to run off at half-time to say that,” Brown told SEN’s This is Your Journey – thanks to Tobin Brothers.

“I remember thinking, I was probably lucky I was half out of it because it could have made things worse by doing something silly.

“I was smart enough to know I wasn’t in a great space to be able to do anything, but that could have been ugly.

“But he (Matthews) did do that, and I have a great relationship with ‘TD’ now.”

As soon as Brown did return in the third term with the Pies opening up a lead, he remonstrated with Daniher, running down to full-forward, chesting his opponent while making his displeasure clear.

Despite being knocked out, Brown says he returned from the blow quickly and remembers all of the important moments of the game.

“I did know that I needed to get myself going and I couldn’t wait for a couple of hours because the game would be over,” Brown said.

“I needed to do some tackling, some ground balls so I could start sharpening my mind up … it really worked and at half-time, I went up to Leigh and said, ‘I’m right to go Leigh’.

“I had to wait until halfway until the third to get back on … I remember the start, the lead-up and the end of the game, so the most important things.”

Brown finished the decider with two goals, still playing a big role despite missing much of the game.

He considers being a premiership player as his best achievement across 254 games in the black and white where he won three best and fairests, was twice an All-Australian and a Team of the Century member.

“I’ve never watched the game back apart from the first quarter and I had a really good start, I was really pleased with how I was going,” Brown said.

“I kicked two, so I played my role which was significant in a Grand Final … after 32 years it was a massive drought with the ‘Colliwobbles’.

“To finish off a premiership player was a fantastic memory.”