Finals can sometimes produce the unlikeliest heroes.

And even though Ken Smale was always a handy goalkicker, even he probably didn't see his big day out in the 1956 preliminary final coming – given he'd been dropped just the week before.

Ken arrived at Victoria Park in 1955, having established a fine reputation as a prolific full-forward with Warracknabeal. He wasn't particularly tall for a key forward but he had excellent hands, great positioning and read the game beautifully.

He did well in his first season, kicking bags of four, three and five in his first three games and topping the club's goalkicking with 47. The highlight of his season was a seven-goal haul late in the year against Carlton, and he was part of the losing grand final side.

Ken Smale came from the bush to the big smoke

The 1956 season wasn't quite as smooth sailing, however. Ken was only able to train with the club one night a week at best, doing the rest of his training back home at Warracknabeal. And that seemed to take its toll, as he kicked only 20 goals in his first nine games.

He then missed five weeks with a broken hand, and his first few games back were underwhelming. So it wasn't hugely surprising when he was dropped for the second semi-final against Melbourne. The Pies went down by 16 points, but Smale was recalled for the preliminary final against Footscray the following week as part of a move by selectors to go with a more mobile forward line.

The move worked better than anyone could have hoped for, with the Pies winning by 39 points and Smale jagging a career-best eight goals. It was a result few had seen coming.

The Age was damning with faint praise, describing Smale's game as "surprising" and "confounding". But Percy Taylor in the Argus was more effusive. "Ken Smale, the Magpie with glue on his fingers and rockets in his boots, left Footscray shellshocked in the League preliminary final on Saturday. Shocked by his unbeatable leads, his uncanny marks and tracer-bullet accuracy. And this from the man who was discarded by selectors just a week earlier! His tally of eight goals from nine shots was a brilliant performance and easily his best for Collingwood."

Smale himself seemed a little taken aback by his own achievements, modestly attributing much of his performance to the fact that conditions were good and the ball dry. "I'm not much good at handling a greasy ball and I felt really confident about my marking as soon as I knew that this time, it wasn't going to slip out of my hands."

Ken Smale kicks one of his eight goals in the 1956 preliminary final against Footscray

Former Essendon champion Dick Reynolds, writing in the Argus, said that Smale looked like the Pies' best bet at full-forward since Ron Todd. He felt Collingwood could realistically match it with Melbourne in the grand final the following week.

Unfortunately that wasn't to be the case. The Magpies were absolutely smashed by the Demons – to the tune of a whopping 73 points – and Smale came back to earth with just a solitary goal, blanketed by Peter Marquis.

Ken Smale never again quite reached the heights of his eight-goal preliminary final wonder game. He did kick six against Carlton in 1957, but only 13 for the year. He managed only five goals from 15 games in 1958, but ended his Collingwood career on the best note possible by being on the bench when the Pies won the 1958 premiership – a result that was perhaps even a bigger shock than Ken's own individual performance had been two years earlier.