Ghost Dog
28-07-2012, 09:32 AM
http://images.theage.com.au/2012/07/27/3499111/art-svFINALWORD-620x349.jpg
FINAL WORD
BILLY Picken, father of the Western Bulldogs' Liam Picken, is one of the game's personalities. A butcher's son from the small country town of Macarthur, south of Hamilton, he arrived at Collingwood in 1974 as a 17-year-old forward.
At 188 centimetres, Billy wasn't tall, even by the standards of the day, but his game was built around exhilarating high marking. "No punching from behind for us blokes," he says. We're speaking on the phone but I feel a grin coming down the line. Billy was famous for commentating as he played. "Here comes Billy!" he'd cry as he leapt into the sky.
In 1975, Billy was swung to centre half-back. His first opponent was Richmond's Royce Hart, centre half-forward in the AFL Team of the Century. In 1976, Collingwood finished last. In 1977, under new coach Tom Hafey, it finished on top of the ladder, losing to North Melbourne in a grand final replay after the first grand final was drawn. That's the game Billy remembers most - the drawn grand final.
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That was as close as the Pies would get under Hafey. History would say they weren't that talented but always found something come finals time, pushed bravely for the flag - and lost. They became one of footy's romantic causes. They had a kid called Daicos with skills as fine as you'd see. They had an athletic giant with a mop of blond hair called Peter Moore. And, at centre half-back, taking on all-comers in the air and looking like a scruffy schoolkid, they had Billy Picken.
http://www.theage.com.au/afl/afl-news/pickens-a-bluecollar-bulldog-20120727-22zfk.html
FINAL WORD
BILLY Picken, father of the Western Bulldogs' Liam Picken, is one of the game's personalities. A butcher's son from the small country town of Macarthur, south of Hamilton, he arrived at Collingwood in 1974 as a 17-year-old forward.
At 188 centimetres, Billy wasn't tall, even by the standards of the day, but his game was built around exhilarating high marking. "No punching from behind for us blokes," he says. We're speaking on the phone but I feel a grin coming down the line. Billy was famous for commentating as he played. "Here comes Billy!" he'd cry as he leapt into the sky.
In 1975, Billy was swung to centre half-back. His first opponent was Richmond's Royce Hart, centre half-forward in the AFL Team of the Century. In 1976, Collingwood finished last. In 1977, under new coach Tom Hafey, it finished on top of the ladder, losing to North Melbourne in a grand final replay after the first grand final was drawn. That's the game Billy remembers most - the drawn grand final.
Advertisement
That was as close as the Pies would get under Hafey. History would say they weren't that talented but always found something come finals time, pushed bravely for the flag - and lost. They became one of footy's romantic causes. They had a kid called Daicos with skills as fine as you'd see. They had an athletic giant with a mop of blond hair called Peter Moore. And, at centre half-back, taking on all-comers in the air and looking like a scruffy schoolkid, they had Billy Picken.
http://www.theage.com.au/afl/afl-news/pickens-a-bluecollar-bulldog-20120727-22zfk.html