Collingwood’s social media team put out a tweet last week asking whether a footballer had ever enjoyed a better second season than Nick Daicos. A couple of the statues on the MCG’s Parade of Champions answered the question. Haydn Bunton’s inscription reads “extraordinary endurance, balance and ball control”. I always loved the words underneath Dick Reynolds’ statue outside Gate 6 – “a brilliant and scrupulously fair footballer.” Bunton won a Brownlow in his first two seasons and Reynolds in his second. John Coleman, who has his own statue in the main street of Hastings, had two premierships and 220 goals to his name by the end of his second year.
In the AFL era, it’s hard to top Tony Modra, who had 100 goals by his 22nd game and the keys to Adelaide. But Modra was 24 and a late bloomer. This century’s standout is probably Chris Judd. Upon his retirement, I wrote about what an outstanding junior he was, and how quickly he took the competition by storm. But his first Brownlow didn’t come until his third season.
