As we reflect on collingwoodfc.com.au's first twenty years, Nick Hulett, one of the drivers behind the club's web production recalls his first interview on CTV. It's a moment he won't forget.

It was round one of the 2007 season, and I had just watched the Magpies come back from a 25-point deficit at three-quarter time to record a thrilling three-point win over the Kangaroos at the MCG. Not a bad result for my first game as a Collingwood Football Club employee.

The only multiple goal scorer that day for the Pies, with a pair of majors, was Paul Medhurst, a 25-year-old West Australian who’d joined the club at the end of 2006 in the deal that sent Chris Tarrant to Fremantle, in return for pick eight in the draft, which became Ben Reid.

Medders turned out to be pretty handy acquisition (runner-up best-and-fairest, club leading goal kicker, ANZAC Day medallist and All Australian, all in 2008).

But I digress.

As the club’s new multimedia/website guy, part of my role was to take the Magpie Army behind the scenes and interview the stars on game day. After toppling the Kangas, the song had been sung, the rooms were buzzing, and I was right in the thick of it. It was time to get to work, and Medders was a good story.

With CTV microphone in hand and our video guru, Amber Crimmins, on my tail and ready to record, I anxiously ambushed our new recruit before he could grab an ice pack.

Medders, deserving of the limelight in his 100th AFL game and having played a crucial role in his first outing for his new club, barely got a word in. The nervous interviewer overshadowed the on-field star with a lot of unnecessary talking, over excitement and awkwardness. The occasion got to me. Medders definitely had a better debut for Collingwood than I did.

The standard of that particular interview aside, the reason we had an in-house CTV crew inside the rooms in 2007 was because Collingwood had, a few years prior, quite wisely committed to a substantial investment in digital technology.

Not many, if any, sporting organisations in Australia were set up to be publishing online video content on the same day as an event in the mid 2000s, giving our supporters access that other clubs didn’t provide, and helping to build a fan base that remains the biggest of any club in Australian sport. Since then, a number of very talented and dedicated individuals have continued to ensure that Collingwood remains at the forefront of how sporting organisations use digital technology and engage stakeholders.

It’s an honour to have played a small part in contributing to the growth of the collingwoodfc.com.au machine, now a highly sophisticated, respected and admired digital operation that goes far beyond just a website and match day CTV interviews.