Very few records that were established back in 1917 remain intact today. The pure passage of time, together with advancements in skills, technology and even human physiology, have meant that most benchmarks set back then have long since been bettered.
But not Collingwood’s record for the most games played in succession. The mark of 191 games-in-a-row was set by the legendary Jock McHale in the second round of the War-torn 1917 season, and has remained largely unchallenged ever since.
Until now.
This weekend (barring any last-minute injuries in the warm-up), Jack Crisp will play his 192nd consecutive game for the Magpies. Add in the six he played with Brisbane immediately before joining us in 2015, and his overall streak of 198 consecutive games will place him at sixth on the all-time VFL/AFL list.
Only seven of Crisp's teammates remain at the club from his debut in the opening round of the 2015 season, coincidentally against his former club at the Gabba. And from that moment on, he simply hasn’t missed a game.
He hasn’t only been consistent either, but brilliant too – as back-to-back Copelands in the past two seasons testifies.
But even as we marvel at Crisp's ability to not just keep turning up but also to keep producing at such a high level, it’s also important to think back to Jock McHale and ponder: ‘How the hell did he do that?’
His streak started in Round 13 of 1906, and didn’t end until he missed a game in the third Round of 1917.
Sure, the game was slower and less physically demanding then. But players also worked ‘real’ jobs, and were nowhere near the finely tuned athletes they are today. Medical and physio support was almost non-existent, unless you count an old guy with a bucket and a towel.
Plus Jock had been coach since 1912, and captain for several years as well. So he carried an extraordinary – and varied – load for a long time, and scarcely missed a beat for the best part of 11 years. His record as a coach is so famous that it’s easy to forget he was also a wonderful player, whether in the centre or at half-back.
His run of games stopped in 1917, when a combination of form, age (he was 35), injuries and off-field concerns (he lost his 14-year-old brother to illness pre-season, and then his wife gave birth to their third child) saw him forced into three separate absences and only nine out of a possible 18 games. He also handed over the captaincy to Percy Wilson mid-season.
Any way you look at it, Jock McHale’s 191-game streak was a freakish achievement. It was a League record at the time, and wasn’t broken until the 1940s. It remains the eighth longest streak in VFL/AFL history. And the closest any other Magpie has got before now was Tarkyn Lockyer, who managed to get to 136.
So this weekend we celebrate the falling of one of Collingwood’s oldest records. And as we rightly hail Jack Crisp for a phenomenal achievement, it’s worth remembering that Jock McHale’s effort was close to superhuman itself.
