The recent Round 8 Collingwood v Hawthorn clash at the MCG was an absolute thriller with Dylan Moore booting a goal after the siren to draw the match. The game was full of highlights and none more than the feats of Nick “The Wizard” Watson.
But the real highlight for me did not take place out on the footy field. It took place up in the stands outside the Olympic Room which houses the official pre-game function. As the television cameras panned to the stands after a goal there sitting side by side were two of the greatest full forwards of our time in Peter Hudson and Peter McKenna. Hudson 80 years of age and McKenna 79. Where have the years gone? It was a real thrill seeing these legends of the game enjoying the footy together.
My thoughts immediately drifted to that famous day on Saturday 25 August 1973 at VFL Park in Round 21 when the Pies took on the Hawks in front of 48,059 spectators. I stood behind the goals at the main scoreboard end with my father and brother that day. It was a magical day. It was a must-win game for the Hawks to keep their finals hopes alive. It was desperation stakes. So desperate they flew in their former champion goalkicker who back in Round 1 1972 against Melbourne went down with a crippling knee injury at Glenferrie Oval after kicking eight goals just short of half time. We were there that day too.
There are grand entrances in football, and then there is the return of Peter Hudson in a comeback so theatrical it made Elvis look understated.
The build-up began more than a year earlier when Hudson, perhaps the greatest full-forward in VFL history having equalled Bob Pratts record of 151 in 1971, exploded his knee in Round 1 of 1972. Hawthorn supporters reacted as though civilisation itself had collapsed. I cried into my Footy Record. Elderly supporters muttered “why, football gods, why?” Meanwhile opposition full-backs briefly experienced emotions unfamiliar to them; hope, optimism, and the ability to sleep peacefully on Friday nights.
For eighteen long months, Hudson rebuilt the knee training with his old teammate Rod Olsson at the Sandy Bay Oval. Every defender secretly prayed the rumours were false. “He’ll never come back,” they hoped. But by 1973 the prospect became terrifyingly real. Hudson was returning against the Collingwood Football Club at VFL Park.
And then came the entrance. Not by a Holden. Not by a P76. Not by a Valiant. Not by a Datsun. Not even by the team bus. Not even by a dark limousine!
No Peter Hudson arrived from Hobart and landed in the VFL car park in a helicopter. A helicopter!
Imagine being a Collingwood defender warming up innocently at VFL Park, adjusting the jock straps and rubbing Penetrene into tightly strung hamstrings, only to suddenly hear the distant whop-whop-whop of rotor blades approaching from the heavens like the cavalry in a war movie. Or even the opening scene of Apocalypse Now.
Out of the sky descended Hudson; football’s answer to General MacArthur returning to the Philippines.
The helicopter landed beside the ground and out stepped Hudson with a repaired knee, a slight limp, an aura of destiny, and the look of a man who fully intended to ruin several defenders’ afternoons including Jeff Clifton and Doug Gott. And what about that Delmonti suit and tie with the Pelaco shirt and winged collars. It was less a “football comeback” and more an “international diplomatic summit.” His long bushy sideburns were resplendent in the Spring sun. He looked a bit pudgy, but Huddo was never a great trainer.
Collingwood’s backline immediately suffered from a bout of high anxiety and grief. “Surely he can’t move properly,” Clifton, Adamson and Gott told themselves.
Unfortunately for them, Peter Hudson only required approximately one functioning leg and half a second of daylight to kick goals. Like a suburban dad dominating children at a family barbecue cricket match, Hudson simply wandered around gathering marks and calmly slotting majors with terrifying inevitability and all on one leg. It took just four and a half minutes into the first quarter for Hudson to boot two goals from three scoring shots. He ended up with eight goals.
Eight goals! Eight! On one leg!!
Every time the ball went near him panic spread through the Magpies like a power blackout. Hawthorn supporters were beside themselves. Mike Williamson needed oxygen.
But in the middle of this Hudson inspired theatre production was Peter McKenna, Collingwood’s own champion full-forward and owner of perhaps the most famous drop punt in football history. McKenna clearly decided that if Hudson was going to turn the afternoon into a full-forward carnival he may as well join the fun. He booted three goals himself in a relatively quiet day for the Magpie sharpshooter but had the best seat in the house as he marvelled at Hudson’s exploits at the other end of the ground.
And somehow despite Hudson’s airborne arrival, despite his miraculous comeback, despite eight goals from a man held together by Elastoplast tape and determination, Collingwood won the game 14.15 99 to the Hawks 12.11. 83.
I still have the Sunday Press and Sunday Observer press cuttings from the following day in my crumpled footy scrap book. One headline read: MR MAGIC TURNS IT ON another THE ELUSIVE LIMPER.
Peter McKenna in an exclusive article in Inside Football on September 1, 1973, wrote, “Before the game started, I ran up to Huddo to shake his hand and wish him luck. I shouldn’t have bothered; he didn’t need it. By half time I was starting to wish he had missed his plane in Hobart. Looking at him go through his performance from the other end of the ground, I could not believe that this overweight, out of condition, obviously unfit bloke could do what he was doing. It proved just what a champion he is.”
For the record Huddo had 14 kicks, ten marks and booted 8 goals and outplayed four opponents in Jeff Clifton (after conceding four majors up to the ten-minute mark of the second quarter), Leigh Adamson, Twiggy Dunne and Doug Gott. Experts reckoned it was the first time four full backs had tried to stop one full forward who had only one leg. I don’t recall Huddo laying a tackle that day but then again that was never a feature of his game.
Only in 1970s football could a man descend from the clouds in a helicopter, kick eight goals on one leg, become immortal and still end up on the losing side. That’s football. The crowd wandered out of VFL Park having witnessed football folklore. They sat in their Datsun’s or Valiant’s or Holden’s for an hour trying to escape the chaotic maze that was the VFL car park reflecting on one of the greatest performances by an individual ever seen.
Meanwhile, Hudson jumped back in the helicopter, went straight to the airport, flew into Hobart and arrived at the Granada Tavern, Glenorchy for his 9pm shift. Hudson played two games in 1974, but his knee was no good. He wasn’t seen again until 1977 where he booted 110 goals in his final season in the VFL. His last game ironically was a final against Collingwood again at VFL Park, the day Phil Carmen belted Michael Tuck and was rubbed out for the 1977 VFL Grand Final.
And there they were Peter Hudson and Peter McKenna together again 56 years after that memorable day at VFL Park in the stands of the MCG. Two of the all-time greats of our game.
Peter Hudson’s career….
4× Coleman Medal: 1968, 1970, 1971, 1977
2× Hawthorn best and fairest: 1968, 1970
6× Hawthorn leading goalkicker: 1967–1971, 1977
2× All-Australian team: 1966, 1969
TANFL Premiership player: 1975
2× William Leitch Medal: 1978, 1979
New Norfolk best and fairest: 1965
3× Glenorchy best and fairest: 1976, 1978, 1979
8× TFL leading goalkicker: 1963–1966, 1975, 1976, 1978, 1979
4× New Norfolk leading goalkicker: 1963–1966
4× Glenorchy leading goalkicker: 1975, 1976, 1978, 1979
Australian Football Hall of Fame – Legend status
Tasmanian Football Hall of Fame Icon
Hawthorn Hall of Fame – Legend status
Hawthorn Team of the Century
Tasmanian Team of the Century
Most goals in a VFL/AFL Season (tied) 1971 150
Total VFL Goals 727
Total career goals 1721
Read more from Richard Griffiths HERE
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A truly extraordinary footballer whose physical characteristics as a full forward could have been seen as holding him back. Where does guile fit though? An how did he kick so many goals with that mongrel punt? He defied every cliche in football. It was so nice to see these two champs sitting side by side the other night.
Great seeing those two champions of the game seated together the other night. It was a whole different game back when they played, dare I say it far better than now.
R 21 1973 saw Collingwood consolidate their spot on top of the ladder, Hawthorn again set to miss the finals after the 1971 flag. It was a time of black and white football, no live coverage, just the final term of a match(es)on the replay. My old memory recalls footage of the helicopter, Hudson, and Collingwood winning.
We recall Hudson returned for the opening two rounds of 1974, then back to boot another ton in 1977. His record equalling 150 goals in 1971 was almost a record breaking 151 bar two un-Hudson like misses. These were linked to the treatment meted out to him by a St. Kilda player earlier in the match, leaving Hudson very much the worse for wear.
Memories are life .
Glen!