Maurie Dunstan

Recruited from VFA outfit Preston after previously being on the Magpies' radar as a teenager, Maurie Dunstan was a productive centre half-forward who balanced his early sporting commitments with service in the Australian Army. He quickly became a focal point of the Collingwood attack, topping the club's goalkicking in consecutive seasons (1951 and 1952) and demonstrating his ceiling with a dominant eight-goal haul against Hawthorn. Despite these individual accolades, Dunstan's career is often remembered for a cruel twist of fate during the 1953 campaign; after playing 13 games that year, a bout of appendicitis compounded by a leg injury ruled him out of the finals series, costing him a place in that year's premiership side. His time at Victoria Park was consistently hampered by broken bones and soft tissue issues, leading him to leave the VFL after the 1954 season to coach Fish Creek, though his legacy continued at the elite level through his sons Graeme and Ian.