“Sitting there crying”: The lows former Pie fell to before career resurgence

Chris Mayne was one of footy’s hottest free agents in the off-season of 2016 when Collingwood signed Fremantle forward on a four-year deal.

While Mayne was a key player for the Dockers across a successful era up forward, things didn’t go smoothly for the then 28-year-old in his first season at the Magpies, playing just three AFL games as he was left to languish in the VFL.

As a big-money recruit, Collingwood fans’ displeasure with Mayne and the club grew in 2017 as they missed finals for a fourth consecutive season.

Without a solidified role and with pressure increasing from all angles, Mayne admits that he found it incredibly hard to even go into the club at stages throughout 2017, even being reduced to tears in the club’s car park before training.

“There were points where I wasn’t getting out of the car,” Mayne told This is Your Journey – thanks to Tobin Brothers.

“I was just sitting there crying. My wife knew what was going on, she was trying to get me out of the car. My dad was calling me. My manager was calling me. I just didn't want to go in (to the club).

“I was just trying to figure things out and I just wanted to get to the end of the season to get a reset button and think, what's next here?

“It just became a ton of bricks that you just get suffocated on.”

That difficult year led to Mayne attacking his off-season with vigour, dropping three kilos as he went on to find a role on the wing in Round 6 of 2018 – a year Collingwood made the Grand Final.

Mayne was one of Collingwood’s better players in that decider, totalling 14 tackles and 15 disposals as the Pies went down by a kick.

He’d remain an integral member of Collingwood’s side until his retirement at the end of the 2021 season, finishing up with 76 games in the black and white across five seasons.

Listen to Mayne’s full chat with Sam Edmund here.