Freshly signed Magpie Lachie Neale isn’t the first player to don both the black and white stripes of Collingwood and the maroon, blue and gold of Brisbane over the past decades.
The three-time Premiership player and two-time Brownlow Medallist joins a host of other superstars who have held an association with both clubs over the last thirty years, adding further fuel to one of our game’s great modern rivalries.
He joins Brownlow Medallists, Premiership coaches and party to some of the most famous trades in recent memory.
Jack Crisp
Widely regarded as the best trade in Collingwood history, 18-game Lion Jack Crisp arrived at Olympic Park as now famous ‘steak knives’ along with pick five (that was used to select Jordan De Goey) in a deal that saw Dayne Beams head north.
A record number of consecutive games later and Crisp is a two-time Copeland Trophy winner, 2023 Premiership player and the holder of one of the most incredible records in V/AFL history.
With the departure of Scott Pendlebury and Steele Sidebottom, Crisp is now the second most capped Magpie currently on the list behind fellow former Lion Lachie Neale (321 games) and heads into 2027 on 298 games.
Nathan Buckley
Although Buckley headed to Victoria Park three years before the Brisbane Lions existed, the former Brisbane Bear is perhaps the most well-known player to represent both Collingwood and Brisbane - even if his time in the sunshine state was for a solitary season in 1993.
Making his senior debut for Port Adelaide in the SANFL aged 19, Buckley won the only senior Premiership of his career in 1992, took home the Magarey Medal for league Best and Fairest and Jack Oatey Medal for best on ground in the Grand Final.
The struggling Brisbane Bears used their zone rights to draft the talented Northern Territory local in 1991, which was not a popular move with Buckley who was more interested in a move across the border to the football capital in Melbourne from Port Adelaide.
Under AFL draft rules he wasn’t eligible to sign with any other club, so chose to play on in South Australia. In 1993 he signed with the Bears on the proviso he would be allowed to move to the club of his choosing in 1994.
After a successful first season in the AFL that saw him become the first-ever winner of the Rising Star Award, a behind closed doors deal was orchestrated between the Bears and Magpies for Buckley to head south in exchange for almost any player of Brisbane’s choosing.
Future Brisbane AFLW Premiership Coach and 1990 Premiership player Craig Starcevich, plus Troy Lehmann and the Magpies' first round draft pick (no. 12, future double-premiership player Chris Scott) all headed to the Bears.
Buckley went on to become one of the greatest to ever pull on the black and white stripes, playing 260 games, winning the 2003 Brownlow Medal, becoming a seven-time All Australian and six-time Copeland Trophy winner.
He captained the Magpies for eight seasons, including in the 2002 and 2003 Grand Final defeats to…Brisbane.
Dayne Beams
The other side of the famous ‘steak knives’ trade involving Jack Crisp. Dayne Beams was drafted to Collingwood in 2008 alongside Steele Sidebottom at pick 29. Beams played 110 games including the 2010 Premiership.
For family reasons, Beams moved to Brisbane in 2015, playing 58 games and captained the club for two years.
Beams returned to Collingwood for the 2019 and 2020 seasons before retiring.
Dan McStay
The most recent Lion to become a Magpie before Neale, Dan McStay joined Collingwood prior to the 2023 season.
A power forward with an appetite for kicking goals, the Victorian was drafted in 2013 and booted 138 goals from 161 games across nine years for the Lions.
A key part of the Magpies’ minor premiership in 2023, McStay remains one of the heartbreak stories of recent times after injuring his knee in the Preliminary Final seeing him miss Collingwood’s Grand Final victory over his former side.
Leigh Matthews
Arguably the greatest player of the 20th century, Matthews never pulled on the playing guernsey of either club, but is a figure stitched into the history of some of their most famous moments as Senior Coach.
Arriving at Collingwood in 1986, Matthews led the Pies to the 1990 Premiership, ending a drought dating back to 1958 and burying the infamous ‘Colliwobbles’ along with it.
After a hiatus of four years, Matthews returned to the hotseat at the struggling and newly formed Brisbane Lions in 1999. Two years later he took the Lions to the promised land, coaching them to their first of two 21st century ‘three peats’ in 2001, 2002 and 2003, with the two latter victories coming against his former club in Collingwood.
Matthews is now a hall of famer at both clubs and is regarded among the very best to ever play or coach our game.
Craig McRae
One of the great role players in Matthews’ Premiership sides, Craig ‘Fly’ McRae became one of the first pressure forwards in the AFL. Laying the foundations for a role now trademark in McRae’s Collingwood side, ‘Fly’ played 195 games for Brisbane (Bears and Lions) from 1995 to 2004 including being a part of the 2001, 2002 and 2003 Premierships.
A school teacher during his playing days, McRae served a long apprenticeship as both a development and assistant coach at Richmond, Brisbane, Collingwood and Hawthorn in multiple stints from 2007 to 2021.
It was in late 2021 when McRae emerged as the man to become Collingwood’s 19th V/AFL Senior Coach.
A little under 12 months later he had turned the Magpies’ fortune from a 17th place finish in 2021 to a Preliminary Final in 2022 with a new, exciting game style.
A further 12 months later in an incredible act of poetry, delivered Collingwood’s 16th AFL Premiership in a Grand Final for the ages against his former side Brisbane.
Shane O’Bree
Drafted out of Beaufort in Western Victoria in 1997, O’Bree played 19 games for the Lions between 1998 and 1999, impressing enough to land a Rising Star nomination in Round 1 of ’99.
But even a Leigh Matthews visit to O’Bree’s home in Ballarat in the off-season of 1999 wasn’t enough to convince the midfielder to remain a Lion, with Mick Malthouse selecting the 20-year-old with pick one in the 2000 Pre-Season Draft, after he turned down a contract with the Lions.
O’Bree would go onto play 227 games in black and white, including turning out against his old side in the ’02 and ’03 Grand Finals.
A household name for Collingwood throughout the early 2000’s, O’Bree finished his playing career at the end of 2010 and went into coaching and later recruiting – a journey that saw him return to his former club as National Recruiting Manager in 2025.
Mal Michael
Drafted by Collingwood in the 1996 Rookie Draft, Mal Michael finished eighth in the Club’s Best and Fairest and earned a rising star nomination in his debut season of 1997.
After 61 games across four injury riddled seasons in black and white, Michael was traded to Brisbane at the end of the 2000 season, where he went on to play in the Lions’ ‘three-peat’.
He went on to play 140 games for Brisbane and a further 37 for Essendon between 2007 and 2008.
Justin Leppitsch
Although only ever a Brisbane player, Leppistch has played a key role in Collingwood’s recent success both as an Assistant Coach and now as General Manager of List and Talent.
The three-time Brisbane Premiership defender joined Collingwood alongside his former Lions teammate Craig McRae ahead of the 2022 season, taking charge of a backline that ultimately delivered the Club’s 16 V/AFL Premiership.
Other players to represent both clubs include Ben Hudson, Patrick Karnezis, James Aish, Jack Frost, Jackson Paine, Blake Caracella and Anthony Corrie.
