Former AFL Player Che Cockatoo-Collins (03.06.2026)

**SPEAKER_1** (0:00)
At first, I didn't think it was real. I woke up to this blinding light, and I was transported to another place.

**SPEAKER_2** (0:07)
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**SPEAKER_1** (0:08)
Then I heard a voice.

**Che Cockatoo-Collins** (0:10)
Come with me if you want to live.

**SPEAKER_1** (0:12)
There were thousands of movies and shows, and they were all free.

**SPEAKER_2** (0:15)
The truth is out.

**SPEAKER_1** (0:17)
It's just so beautiful.

**SPEAKER_2** (0:18)
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**Mark Duffield** (0:30)
Welcome back to the SENWA studio out here at Optus Stadium. On this Wednesday morning in Perth, we're here thanks to Blackline, BLAK Line, Aboriginal-owned business delivering signage, print, promotional products, and creative services with cultural integrity and impacts. A person who had impact from his very first game in the AFL was Che Cockatoo-Collins. He played 160 AFL games, 85 for Essendon, 75 for Port Adelaide. He was probably pretty unlucky to miss the opportunity to play in two flags. He just missed them at both clubs. He joins us on the line now. Che, welcome.

**Che Cockatoo-Collins** (1:13)
Hey, good morning.

**Mark Duffield** (1:14)
How are you? You're talking to Mark Duffield and I've got Dr. Sean Gorman over the other side of the desk from me. You've just made our producer aware you had no idea that Sean Gorman was a doctor.

**Che Cockatoo-Collins** (1:27)
You know, he said something. No, I didn't. I didn't. Like I said, I always thought he was a proctologist.
Oh dear. Well, I didn't ask any questions.

**Mark Duffield** (1:45)
Che, this is a bit of a trip down memory lane for me because I was at the MCG Round 1 1994 I was sitting in the old press box and I remember the game clearly. You were playing against, oh, for Essendon against the West Coast Eagles. And of course there was the great Sheedy Malthouse rivalry back in those days. You kicked three goals on debut in front of about 40,000 people. Tell us about your memories of that day.

**Che Cockatoo-Collins** (2:11)
Oh, well, it was unfortunate. I mean, I drafted in 92, but I didn't go over till 94 because my mum wanted me to play seniors for Port Adelaide, McPies and Air Sanofilm, so which was the right decision. I'm going to miss the flag with 93, but we don't know what would have happened, including the 2000 or 2004 for that matter. So the lead up to that was again unfortunate because Lonnie Michael Long did his knee in a preseason match. I think it might have been against West Coast too over there. But I don't know, I just got selected. I always wanted to play AFL and VFL at the time, but because I'm from Cairns and I'm here now actually, and I've just left a conversation with Kevin Kropinyuri, who's the father of Koziah Pickett and Aaron Davies, and Aaron L, captain of the Melbourne Football Club. Good SA boys, but even I'm a Queenslander, spent a lot of time in Adelaide and South Australia, as well as Victoria. But so that day, I was just selected.
I remember not feeling, I felt sick in the guts, because I thought, you know, I'm going to play against these big bodies, like McKenna, Warsfold, Brennan, Jackovich. I think he was only still 20 at the time, but I was 18, and all of these other huge footballers. And I'm thinking, I don't know what I can do here. Anyway, we, it was a good game. I think they were beating us for a fair time. We did all right, and then we just, we ended up coming back in the last quarter. And I think routine to the West Coast and Essendon matches of the 90s, it was either way, less than a kick either way. And I remember later that year, they beat us by a goal of three points in, might have been a year or two after, but I remember Waterman kicking a goal in the boundary, if you guys remember.

**Mark Duffield** (4:30)
Yep.

**Che Cockatoo-Collins** (4:31)
To beat us, so it was, you had to be up for those games. And yeah, it was a bit of a shock coming up against what I thought was the best team of the early 90s, in your first game, but it turned out okay.

**Mark Duffield** (4:48)
You kicked a big goal, I reckon, in the last quarter of that game, because I think you were about three goals down at three quarter time, but obviously Mick Malthouse was a renowned defensive coach, and I always felt Shees was able to get under his skin a little bit by just being able to hang in the game long enough and then have a run where they'd put three or four goals on and West Coast would struggle to respond because they weren't a high scoring team. I remember one of the goals you kicked in the last quarter, and I don't know whether you gave any lip to the West Coast defender that you ran past, and you certainly pulled a funny face at him, and it was kind of letting him know you were around.