Former Collingwood coach Mick Malthouse has explained how he used to prepare his teams to do battle on this day.
“You enter the rooms knowing already that we’ve been to an Anzac Day memorial, albeit the fact that it’s an early memorial. We’ve got our players educated in regard to why they’re playing,” he told ABC.
“I’ve given them a piece of information from a book called The Fallen. All the new players get a little piece of of that they study. They realise that the player who played with Fitzroy Uni, South Melbourne, Melbourne, whoever hasn’t come back.
“We say football is life and death. I say to them, as a playing group, we know it’s not life and death. But one thing we are doing today is representing our sporting organisation, whether it be AFL or whether it be the Collingwood Football Club.
“People expect us to run straight and hard and no deviation whatsoever, because it would be an injustice to all eyes that served and all those that potentially will serve. So you have got an opportunity to today. As mush as it’s a game of football, it’s not. Anzac day… we should never, ever forget what took place on that day. And we’ve been well versed on that through the week. It is up to you guys to never, ever embarrass yourself, your family or your country.”
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