Flashback: When “cocksure” Tiger gave Magpies gun a bath

Former Collingwood defender James Clement was once given a bath by Richmond’s Nathan Brown.

The two-time Copeland Trophy winner was well on top of Brown at the MCG in Round 8, 2005 when the Magpies started the fourth quarter 10 points in front of their arch enemy.

Clement was one of the most dependable backmen of his time, regularly taking on and beating some of the competition's elite forwards, but on this occasion it all swiftly unravelled.

As Brown tasted blood he went about his business in “cocksure” fashion, recalls Clement.

“I received various footy lessons from the likes of (Anthony) Koutoufides, (James) Hird, Phil Matera, (Matthew) Lloyd, (Michael) O’Loughlin, so there are so many to pick from,” he told SEN back in 2020.

“There was one glorious afternoon that turned into a very dark 15 minutes at the MCG when Collingwood was playing Richmond.

“Collingwood had the game in control and I was playing on a gentleman who I’d absolutely towelled up in the first three quarters, he couldn’t get near it. I’d had 20 possessions out of the back pocket, I was loving life.

“Then this bloke, five minutes into the last quarter, gets a cheap one because one of my teammates hadn’t covered for me.

“This cocksure individual, suddenly the chest was puffed out and he was on. Then he proceeded to tear me an absolute fresh one and kick five goals in five minutes.

“And that would be Mr Nathan Brown.”

Clement continued: “There’s a little bit of confidence player to him.

“But once he got going he was almost unstoppable. Suddenly after a goal he was off the chain and was just getting hold of everything, kicking them from everywhere, was in every bit of play.

“It’s one thing to cop it on the chin and have your pants pulled down in front of more than 50,000 (MCG was under renovations) getting five goals kicked on you in a quarter, but the fact that it also ended up with us losing the game because of his performance within that 15 minutes.

“Not only did I have to put up with the arrogance coming from Nathan Brown, which was always entertaining, but then I had to deal with Mick Malthouse in the change rooms afterwards.”

The Pies would end up losing by 35 points after conceding eight goals in the final quarter while Brown received three Brownlow votes for his match-winning cameo which included 21 disposals.

Originally published in 2020

See the performance Clement had to deal with below: