Nick's Collingwood Bulletin Board

Collingwood’s 2023 Premiership Cup has travelled for the first time since its engravement, with the trophy visiting Heywood in south-west Victoria last Saturday alongside President Jeff Browne and Club legend Leon Davis.

The day included the opportunity to check out the Cup, as well as a smoking ceremony, giveaways, activities, and a BBQ lunch.

Davis, who works as the Club’s Cultural Development Manager, said Collingwood and Heywood have had a strong relationship since Browne took over the presidency.

“About a year and a half ago when I was in talks with the Club to go back there and sorting all my stuff out with them, we had the partnership with Deadly Choices and Jeff, Jodi and Aunty Deb came down and launched the Deadly Choices program,” he said.

“They also had a chat to myself and that started the process of me coming back and that initially got me back working at the club.

“Jeff’s always been keen to get back down here and get back to this community. He did well to come down and put himself in the firing line and he copped a bit, but he stayed true to his word and he always said he wanted to come back down.

“After the Grand Final that night at the dinner, he mentioned that he wanted to bring the Cup down which was good but then he followed it up and I got an email last week to say the Cup was coming down and he was bringing it.”

The Winda-Mara Aboriginal Corporation, who have been a key driver behind the initiative, are a community-controlled organisation that provides better health, education and employment opportunities for people in the area.

They have done so for over 30 years and Davis said the community was really excited to get the chance to celebrate the Club's premiership, while also hear from Browne about the direction Collingwood’s cultural journey continues to head in.

“It’s an Aboriginal community organisation that they’ve got down here and that’s Winda-Mara Health Service where they give a lot of health care to mob in the community,” he said.

“It isn’t limited to just mob and just First nations people, it’s an organisation that deliver care for everyone so there’s a lot of people that are interested in coming down to see the Cup.

“We had a big crowd and a few people to come through and for Jeff to give an update on the work getting done and I’m back there now and can speak to it as well.

“They’re really excited and are a big footy town. It’s huge and it’s good for something like this to happen.”