Bill O’Brien was there from the very start of Collingwood’s time in the VFL/AFL, breaking into the 1896 Premiership side to be a part of the historic game against St Kilda in the opening round of 1897 under the auspices of the newly formed Victorian Football League.
O’Brien, who had been a highly regarded running defender with West Melbourne, settled immediately his new surroundings, playing 16 of a possible 17 games in that debut season and regularly being named amongst the best players, raised for both his stout defence and also for his attacking runs. But things took a decidedly controversial turn for a while in 1898.
The problems started when he missed the Round 3 game against Melbourne. The club didn’t like it, nor when he missed again the following week, and promptly cleared him to Melbourne Juniors. But O’Brien was aghast: he fronted the committee and was able to give them a satisfactory explanation for his absences, so the club rescinded his clearance and took him back!
It was a dramatic episode, but in the end it underlined just how much Collingwood had come to mean to O’Brien. The fact that he immediately returned to the starting line-up and played every remaining game of the season showed how much he meant to the club, too.
The Australasian commented after his first game back: “At their best, the dark blue players would have found O'Brien (back) the hardest Collingwoodite to manage, for O'Brien was in the pink of form and of condition, his fortnight's spell, whilst he and his committee were not on friendly terms, having done him no end of good.”
The Argus chipped in. “O'Brien has always been recognised as good man, but on Saturday he was by a long way the best on the field, and has probably never played better football,” the paper said. “He was the same all through, and his defence was largely responsible for keeping Carlton at a distance.”
The Age added their praise too: For the winners, O'Brien (half back) played a perfect game, cool, clever and accurate, he was continually in evidence, was never beaten by his opponents, and not only got the ball at every attempt, but invariably made the best use of it which circumstances permitted.”
Those passages summed up O’Brien’s first four seasons at Collingwood. He was a near-automatic selection, playing 64 games. He was strong and resolute in defence, most often off the half-back flank where he formed an often impenetrable combination with Jack Monohan at centre half-back. He was fast, aggressive and could give the ball a thumping kick when racing out of the back half.
But something happened in 1901. He appeared to lose form and, after just three games in the first half of the year, was cleared to Collingwood Juniors. It seems a perplexing move, given he was still only 24, and seemingly with much more to contribute at senior level.
Instead, he contributed to Collingwood by assuming the captaincy of the Juniors. In 1902 and 1903 he was also named captain of combined metropolitan juniors teams that played Ballarat. He captained the Juniors against the senior Collingwood team during the next pre-season, but then crossed to Rose of Northcote as captain. He remained in that role for at least four seasons, renowned for his great leadership.
We’ll probably never know the reasons for Bill O’Brien’s departure from Collingwood, but one thing is unarguable: the club got great value from him across seven seasons both with the senior team and also Collingwood Juniors.
- Michael Roberts