Football is about mateship for Collingwood’s Harry O’Brien and on Saturday he has the chance to complete a fairytale alongside three of his closest pals.
The Brazilian-born backman, who was raised in Perth, capped off a remarkable journey of his own by playing in Collingwood’s victorious team in last year’s AFL grand final replay against St Kilda.
But fellow Magpies Chris Tarrant, Andrew Krakouer and Leon Davis, for various reasons, are yet to win a flag.
And O’Brien, one of the game’s most celebrated deep thinkers who attracted national attention earlier this year for his meeting with the Dalai Lama, is determined to give the trio a taste of the joy he felt last year.
“I’m very close to all three of them. They are some of my closest mates and we’ll be mates for life,” O’Brien told AAP.
“It’s great to see them getting this opportunity as well. It’s such a special week.”
O’Brien felt sick in his stomach late in the last quarter of Friday night’s preliminary final when Lance Franklin’s amazing goal from the boundary line put Hawthorn back in front.
However his thoughts were not for himself, but for his mates.
“That’s one of the things that was going through my mind when `Buddy’ (Franklin) kicked that goal,” O’Brien said.
“I thought I just want to be a part of the week. The lead-up to the grand final, it’s such a special occasion.
“Last year it all happened so quickly because it was so new.
“This time you know what to expect. You can prepare accordingly and try to keep it as normal as possible.
“It’s fantastic that they get that opportunity, especially Andrew Krakouer who hasn’t played in an AFL grand final.”
Davis, 30, tasted grand final defeat in 2002 and 2003 and played in the drawn grand final last year before being dropped for the replay.
Tarrant, 31, is a veteran of Collingwood’s 2003 grand final side and returned to the Magpies this season after a four-year stint with Fremantle.
Former Richmond goalsneak Krakouer served a 16-month jail term for assault before getting his football career back on track with a successful season in the WAFL in 2010.
“If you were to ask him (Krakouer) when he was incarcerated, do you think you’ll be going on an AFL grand final parade, he would have probably laughed at you,” O’Brien smiled.
“He gets that opportunity and I’m so grateful I get to share that moment.
“We’re all aware of it. We’ve spoken about it during the year.
“We don’t want to labour on it too much.”
O’Brien’s Magpies have the chance to become the first Collingwood side to win back-to-back flags since 1935-36.
But O’Brien is doing his best to stay in the moment.
“You make all of these sacrifices and it’s not to leave behind a legacy. You worry about that at the end of your career,” he said.
“It’s all about that moment on Saturday.”
Thomas
Guest
Wow more stereotyping, your simplicity excedes itself yet again. Considering i'm not old enough to drink, I suppose I can now that you've validated my existence
Swampy
Guest
No, I'm too old and unknowledgable to vote. So just lay back on the couch and sink another stubbie and don't worry that I'll attend a bollot box any time soon.
Swampy
Guest
I don't agree with the use of the lable "deep thinker" in this article. It's a lable given to him by those incredibly knowlegeable poser sports writers. That you think he promotes this opinion of himself is just your interpretation of his public profile. Now Macca and Thomas assert he is a poser. Well good luck to Harry for a bit of posing. There are many who would want Harry O to pose in front of them. As for my lack of knowledge all I can say is a teacher in secondary school once said to me "you are either a genius or a fool" my ego at the time stopped me from agreeing to the latter part of his statement. So call me foolish as well as unknowledgable.
Thomas
Guest
RE, Swampy I hope you aren't old enough to vote
Macca
Guest
Swampy, you have done nothing to disprove my and Thomas' assertion that Harry is a poser and yet you accuse me of villification, you seem to suffer from the same lack of knowledge as he does. Ideas are often regurgitated but the difference between an original deep thinker and a poser is that the deep thinker can interpret and expand on the musings of others, Harry does not have tht capacity as clearly evident from the superficial rambilings on his blog.
Swampy
Guest
Most ideas are regurgitated as were some of those by Harry. I don't see anythig wrong with that. The title is something your obsessed with so just give it to the smartest player of your choice and I'll endorse it. But you still retain the Bolt award.
Macca
Guest
"The “title” is not his to earn but a lable and a description that is quite meaningless and not one he would seek himself" That's crap swampy, he has done nothing but seek that title, all his dealings with the media are designed around perpetuating the myth that he is "one of the game’s most celebrated deep thinkers" As for speaking his mind, aas Thomas said, he is good at regurgitating others ideas but struggles with original thought and interpretation of those ideas.
Swampy
Guest
The "title" is not his to earn but a lable and a description that is quite meaningless and not one he would seek himself. What has some ones interests, wishes or beliefs got to do with myth. You should delve deeper into the things he does out side football. He is a young impressive man, willing to speek his mind, talk about his ideas, his life after football and one footballer with the courage to say it as he sees it. So I am upgrading your award to the Andrew Bolt award for the non factual vllification of Harry O'.
Kieran
Guest
Not borrowing the bogan belief, just keeping it, picking a lesser of two evils. Very clever though how you called him a bogan when he already succumbed to it himself
Macca
Guest
No he has done nothing to promote the myth, talking about how he has a thinking chair, tweeting about how he wants to met the Dalai Lama. He may not have used the words but anyone can see that is the image he wants to portray, I just think he should actually do something to earn the title rather than just do pubilicity stunts.
Swampy
Guest
So Thomas your thinking of borrowing the Bogan belief system are you. Shouldn't take you long to pick up.
Swampy
Guest
Maybe you should read some of his articles on his web site and I can't remember a time when he introduced himself as a deep thinker, rather the press describing him that way and no one suggests there aren't more players gifted with sporting tallent, intellect, guts and an open and inquiring mind. It's fine if you have a gripe with posers if you think he's one but it's silly to judge his motives or intellct when all you see is .05% of the man on the box or in the rags.
Macca
Guest
Thomas, exactly - when asked about his philosphy on life it was the generic "peace and love" thing you would expect from a beauty pageant contestant. His greatest claim to being a deep thinker as far as I can see is that he has a "thinking chair". The other thing that I found infuriating about the one weke at a time interview was tht here we were into the finals and instead of discussing football we were subjected to having to listen to Harry O'brien's concocted views on life.
Thomas
Guest
I've got to agree. I'm a Collingwood supporter, I love the way he plays, I love that he is part of the Collingwood machine but his interview on One Week at a Time was infuriating, his speech is choppy and he takes like two seconds to think about every word he says, even when he says it, it comes out choppy and child like. He follows ideologies that are all conflicting. And his thoughts are adopted by other great minds, he hasn't got an original moral viewpoint. He has the intellectual capacity of every other generic footballer in the history of sport. Ask him about football and stick to it, he isn't paid to solve communicate about the worlds problems, Hitchens and Dawkins are doing a fine job, and imitators aren't necessary, after absorbing this he'll stop spilling cliche after speech impeded cliche. I'd rather be stereotyped along with our bogan supporters rather than to be stereotyped as someone who defines themselves on borrowed beliefs
Macca
Guest
I didn't say it was a competition (you were the one who brought up Intellectual Footballer of the Year), all I am saying is that he has done nothing different to many, many other footballers except promote himself as a "deep thinker" and all evidence I have seen shows that his "deep thought" is nothing more than superficial. You have not shown that my comment was wrong, let alone dumb. And as I said I still stand by my pre season summation of GCS's impact on the season and the quality of their list as very accurate, the fact I over estimated Port Adelaide and didn't factor in Brown being injured doesn't change anything.
Macca
Guest
If he wasn't a Collingwood player he wouldn't have met with the Dalai Lama, and George W Bush met with the Dalai Lama does that make him a "deep thinker"?
The Cattery
Roar Guru
Fair enough, although plenty remain firmly entrenched in the mould. What has he done? He met with the Dalai Lama!! And he's a cool dude!!
Swampy
Guest
Since when was intellect or deep thinking a competition, and the dumbest comment was for the above not for the GCS games. But seeing you predicted zero wins no wonder you win the award.
Macca
Guest
My point is he doesn't break the mould, there are plenty of other footballers who don't fit the stereo type of the "dumb footballer" it's just that they don't go around telling everyone how they are "deep thinkers". What exactly has he done to demonstrate his capacity for deep thought or that differentiates him from dozens of other footballers?
The Cattery
Roar Guru
At least Harry's a bit of a personality who breaks the mould a bit - I'm not too fussed that he's no Einstein.