Two-time Premiership Captain Mark Bickley has plenty of never-before-told stories, following a 13-year AFL career spanning across 272 games, and three years within the coaching ranks.
This year, Bicks will be lifting the lid on those stories with us, taking you inside the four walls at West Lakes, with an aim of giving an insight into football life.
The Crows and Port Adelaide are set to face off in Showdown 56 this weekend and Bicks recalls one of his favourite games against the crosstown rivals.
The second Showdown in 1997 became a defining moment for us that year.
The eventual seven-point win propelled us to the top of the ladder and the momentum continued through to finals, culminating with us claiming our inaugural flag.
The first game against Port Adelaide earlier that year wasn’t one we’d like to remember, given they were the newbies in the competition and we were expected to win.
I remember Malcolm Blight downplaying the rivalry and the match itself.
As Captain, I was a representative for the coach on field but deep down, I knew how important the game was, and I refused to let us be embarrassed by them again.
Unfortunately, I lost the toss and there was a huge northerly wind, so naturally, they chose to kick with the wind first and it worked to their advantage
They led at quarter-time by 31 points, half-time by 16 points and then at three-quarter time by 16, in horrible, wet and windy conditions.
I kept thinking “we have to fight back, we have to get them back for what they did to us earlier in the year”.
I did my best to rally the boys in the three-quarter time huddle, telling them we were good enough, we just had to work that little bit harder.
I reckon I probably said something like “Our fans deserve better from us, they’re here to see us win, let’s show them we can.”
Blighty made a few changes, he was notorious for not sitting idle, but for switching up the names on the whiteboard if things weren’t working.
That final quarter was something else. It was tight and we missed a couple of chances early, but we just kept going.
We were still losing with four minutes remaining in the game, before Troy Bond found himself alone about 25m out, right in front.
He marked and kicked truly, putting us in front by a point.
Chaos erupted in the stands - it was so loud I could barely hear anything, it was euphoric.
Peter Vardy sealed the game by slotting a set shot with about 35 seconds to go, helping us to the eventual seven-point win.
I was so proud of the boys, proud of the way they fought hard to ensure a comeback. Not once did we drop our heads. We always knew we were good enough.
The cheers from the crowd were deafening when the siren went and I can remember all of us players grinning from ear to ear, hugging each other. We had squared the ledger.
That was the start of such a special seven weeks.
Go Crows!
