By JARROD POTTER
LINING up to play on Anzac Day is an immeasurable honour Collingwood footballer Tyson Goldsack will never take for granted.
Striding onto the MCG on 25 April holds a special meaning for 27-year-old Goldsack, originally from Pakenham, as he has featured in no less than six Anzac Day blockbusters between Collingwood and Essendon.
With the centenary of the first Anzac landing adding more gravitas to the proceedings, Goldsack was awe-struck by the occasion and humbled to be part of the AFL’s most significant date on the home-and-away football calendar.
With the build-up all week to the game, then to finally get out on to the field and stand in arms with your team mates and rivals alike, it’s a moment Goldsack will never forget.
“It’s pretty surreal to be honest,” Goldsack said.
“The whole build up to the game as well – it’s the week leading into it… you have it scheduled and earmarked the whole year.
“Especially this year with the 100 years of the Anzacs, it meant that little bit more.
“Once you’re there and you get out on the ground and the stands are full – even with the weather not being great, the stands were still pretty full pretty early – and you line up for the ceremony and it was awesome.”
After the dawn service – amazingly attended this year by around 80,000 people at The Shrine of Remembrance – it was the footballers turn to pay their respects in the midst of the MCG.
In front of 88,395 fans, and probably most of the football world tuning in on television, Collingwood seized a tough 20-point victory in the wet and windy conditions – a fitting way to cap off a solemn and respectful day around Australia.
A back-and-forth first half was just seized by Goldsack’s Magpies, as Collingwood snared a slender one-point lead at the main break.
“We knew they were going to be tough and in some good form coming off a good win against Hawthorn, so we knew we were going to be up against it,” Goldsack said.
“We knew they had been running out of legs in games gone by, so we knew if we stuck with them early we’d have the legs to finish them off.”
Collingwood would blow open the match after that as five second-half goals in the slippery conditions proved more than enough.
The Pies remained the side-to-beat on Anzac Day, much to the chagrin of Essendon fans everywhere.
“We had them on the ropes – the scoreboard didn’t really reflect it, but it felt like we had momentum for most of the day and were able to capitalise late,” Goldsack said.
“It was awesome to soak it all up and take in the last quarter when it was still hard-fought, but we got the job done.”
It was the third time the Collingwood 2010 premiership player had won on Anzac Day, with the Pies utility picking up 11 disposals and five marks on a tough day for football.
It’s been a stellar start to 2015 for Goldsack, after his announcement as a vice-captain to Scott Pendlebury and also announcing an extension to his time at Collingwood with a three-year deal keeping him in the black-and-white stripes for a long while yet after speculation circled that he might be leaving the club.
“It was more about the length of the contract I could get and I got three years,” Goldsack said.
“We got what we wanted out of it and so did they, so that was good to put pen to paper eventually after the long year.
“To get the nod (vice-captaincy), it was from the players who vote the leadership group in and the fact that it’s your peers voting… it’s a good feeling… it’s something I’ve been working on and I’ve been playing some decent footy to top it all off.”
It was the eighth time in the last 10 years Collingwood has won on Anzac Day.
He wasn’t the only local AFL footballer to don the guernsey and represent his club on the big day. Carlton’s Kade Simpson (originally from Emerald) and Levi Casboult (Berwick), St Kilda’s Nathan Wright (Berwick) and GWS trio Tomas Bugg (Pakenham Upper), Shane Mumford (Bunyip) and Tom Scully (Berwick) also featured in their side’s Anzac Day clashes in a jam-packed day with five matches held.
