1990: Tasmania vs. Victoria

He may have kicked the match-sealing goal in Collingwood’s drought-breaking 1990 Grand Final triumph over Essendon, but Tasmanian Football Hall of Fame member Doug Barwick rates playing for his home state in the famous State of Origin win over Victoria the same year as his fondest football memory.

Barwick, a product of the East Launceston Football Club, played 76 games for Fitzroy before crossing to Collingwood and winning a premiership in his third season with the Magpies.

It was Collingwood’s first flag since the upset Grand Final victory over the powerhouse Melbourne side that was chasing a fourth consecutive premiership in 1958.

Despite being a key part of a highly significant moment in Collingwood history, Barwick holds Tasmania’s triumph more dearly.

“The premiership was great, but the win that day was the thing I remember most fondly in my football career,” he said.

Barwick, who was awarded East Launceston’s Best and Fairest and represented the NTFA in 1983, had always dreamt of pulling on the map in a state game.

“Playing League football was just a bonus because as a kid, I had picked playing for Tasmania as being it.”

“That was the level of my ambition, I thought that’s it, if I could play for Tassie I would be a happy boy,” he said.

In front of a packed North Hobart Oval in 1990, Barwick kicked two goals for Tasmania including a 55-metre torpedo that sent the crowd into raptures.

“Still makes the hair on the back of my neck stand up that whole experience,” he said.

It was an experience he shared with two Collingwood teammates, Graeme Wright and James Manson, who were also key members of the Magpies’ history-making premiership.

“In a premiership year, when there was so much at stake, why would you expose yourself to being injured [in a state game] and missing out... I think that was the level of commitment [to Tasmania] that we did have.”

Barwick and his wife Carol were thrilled with the news Tasmania had been granted licenses to join the AFL men’s and women’s competitions and the club will have their full support.

“Being a foundation member, we would financially back the team… [and] that first game, regardless of where it is, we’ll be there to support them.”

“The thought that someone is going to come through a development stream in Tasmania, a home-grown kid… developed in Tasmania, playing for Tasmania, being successful ultimately in a Tasmanian side, well why wouldn’t you be excited by that,” he said.