Hindsight is a beautiful thing, and in the world of football we as fans tend to get caught up in the events of days gone past.
Every footy fanatic has that one player that they long to see take the field, however long gone their days of handling a Sherrin may be.
Whether it be Daicos or Doull, Ricciuto or Richardson, fans can usually point to a single figure that captured their imagination during their formative years of watching AFL football.
Similar to our 'If your club could steal one player...' series, this trio of pieces will go through all 18 teams in the league, pointing at the weak spots in their best 22 and picking one of four past players to slot into their lineup and remedy their club's ailments.
We start off today with the first six teams of the competition based on alphabetical order.
Collingwoodย
Option 1: Saverio Rocca
When the name Saverio Rocca is uttered, the first thing that comes to mind is his ridiculously powerful right boot that saw many Sherrins almost split in two.
Rocca played on 257 occasions, starting off his career in Sydney before making the switch to the Pies in 1997 where his goalscoring habit ramped up significantly. The Northern Knights product finished with 748 goals when he retired in 2009, however, produced some enigmatic performances over the years to cement himself as a Pies cult hero.
So good was Rocca's kicking that he decided to swap AFL footy for the bright lights of the NFL at age 32, playing with the Philadelphia Eagles and Washington Redskins until his release in 2014.
In his prime, Rocca was one of the scariest figures an opposition fullback could see when walking down to the goalsquare, with his huge physique meaning that even if he marked it well outside the 50-metre arc, chances are that the Sherrin would be sailing through the big sticks post-high.
Option 2: Peter Daicos
Peter Daicos needs no introduction.
Footballing fans country-wide know the freakish nature of "The Macedonian Marvel" and what he did for the Pies over his 15-year footballing career.
Playing 250 games and booting 549 goals for Collingwood, Daicos might as well have had the ball on a string with the unbelievable control he had over it, booting goals from outlandish angles and using his nimble frame to evade defenders with ease.
Although he never won a Brownlow, Daicos guided the Pies to their 1990 premiership win as well as winning the club best-and-fairest on two occasions. The enigmatic forward also managed to finish as the Pies' top goal-scorer on five occasions with his best season being in 1990 where he managed to boot a stunning 97 majors over the course of the year.
Now his legacy sits with his two sons Josh and Nick who are both on the books at his former side, with the latter of the two generating an enormous amount of hype prior to his drafting at the end of 2021.
Option 3: Bob Rose
Although not many today could say they saw Bob Rose ply his trade, the man from Nyah West is etched in the very fabric of Collingwood's famous black and white.
Despite only managing to play 152 games for the Pies in his nine years at the club, Rose was remembered as the most courageous player to pull on the Collingwood jumper through the workman-like shifts he put in week-in week-out in midfield.
A skilled sportsman all-around, Rose won the 1953 premiership and was runner-up in the Brownlow Medal count in the same year and finished his career as a four-time club best-and-fairest winner - incredibly impressive for such a relatively short stint as an AFL footballer.
Rose passed away in 2003, however his legacy very much ensues at the club with a statue of him outside the Holden Centre reminding Pies players of the standard they should hold themselves to every time they run out for the club.
Option 4: Gordon Coventry
Coventry is a sacred name in AFL footy, with no one barring one being able to eclipse his downright ridiculous goal-kicking record set over the course of his 306-game career.
Playing from 1920 until his retirement in 1937, the legendary full-forward managed to boot an astounding 1299 goals over the course of his career. What was even more remarkable is that he did it whilst standing at 183cm, which we know is a relatively abnormal height for a key forward.
His average of 4.25 goals per game puts into context how utterly dominant he was, with those who played with 'Nuts' constantly bewildered at how he managed to out mark and outwit every opponent he came up against.
Coventry held the AFL/VFL goalkicking record until 1999 when the great Tony Lockett broke the record playing for Sydney. Despite this, Coventry is still revered as one of the greatest to ever do it, with the forward having an end at Docklands Stadium named after him in honour of his achievements.
Verdict
It hasn't exactly been a secret over the past few years that Collingwood are in dire need of a true key forward that can boot a hefty tally, with the side being on the lower end of the scoring charts in recent times.
In this case, it can't be anyone other than the great Gordon Coventry. The prospect of having someone who has booted just shy of 1300 goals being the spearhead of the attack would be mouthwatering for Pies fans.
How would he stack up against modern defenders? A good question yes, but with the sheer output of scoring that Coventry did you'd be hard-pressed to say that he wouldn't still have a pretty big say on the outcome of games even in this day and age.
