Fitzroy and Collingwood are neighbouring suburbs in inner Melbourne. For 100 years they were close allies most days and bitter enemies on Saturdays in football season, especially when one team played the other.

Foundation members of the then VFL in 1897, the clubs met 209 times in 100 years. Fitzroy won 75 times and drew three times. Collingwood won the other 131 times.

But it was more about quality than quantity for Fitzroy diehards. Like in Round 7 1985, when the then Lions enjoyed a glorious moment at the expense of their neighbours.

On Saturday 11 May ’85 they beat the Magpies 25-10 (160) to 11-15 (81) to post their highest score against Collingwood and their biggest win against Collingwood.

Late that afternoon and for days afterwards Fitzroy people loved nothing more than to walk east down Johnstone Street … just in case they bumped into Collingwood fans. Just so they could rub it in.

Going into the match Fitzroy sat 11^th on the 12-team VFL ladder at 1-5 under coach Robert Walls. Collingwood were 3^rd at 4-2 under Bob Rose.

They were drawn to play at Collingwood’s Victoria Park headquarters, one of the more hostile environments for visiting clubs and a ground where Fitzroy went 34-79 overall.

But this was a day in club history when Lions fans loved every minute of their afternoon at the football.

They were quick out of the blocks and led 8-1 to 3-0 at quarter-time. They’d topped 100 points by halftime, leading 16-5 to 4-6, and coasted home much to the devastation of the packed crowd of 22,964.

Bernie Quinlan, at 33 more than six years older than his oldest teammate, kicked four goals from eight possessions for Fitzroy, while Richard Osborne, Doug Barwick and second-gamer Shane Halas kicked three apiece.

Centreman Billy Lokan was just best afield, collecting 23 possessions for three Brownlow Medal votes, while ruckman Mark Scott had 22 possessions for two votes, and Paul Roos, with a team-high 27 possessions and one goal in his 65th game, earned one vote.

Playing his second game for Fitzroy was 18-year-old Queenslander Scott McIvor, who had been recruited from Queensland club Wilston-Grange. He had 17 possessions, as he had against Hawthorn on debut a week earlier, as a brilliant career started to take shape.

Playing his 14^th game for Fitzroy was 22-year-old Bernie Harris, who would later play alongside McIvor with the Brisbane Bears, and 26-year-old Leon Harris, a member of the Brisbane recruiting staff still today.

Oddly, the beaten Collingwood side included three players who two years later would be members of the very first Brisbane Bears side. Geoff Raines played his 168^th game, Mark Williams topped the Pies possession count with 26 in his 99^th game and Mike Richardson played his 45^th.

The unforgettable afternoon at Victoria Park came 85 years after another event in Round 7 1900.

Known at the time as the Maroons and playing St. Kilda at Brunswick St as they looked to turn premierships in 1898 and 1899 into a hat-trick, Fitzroy won 16-20 (116) to 2-5 (17).

It was the club’s 58^th game and the first time they’d topped 100 points.

At the time it was also the club’s biggest win, and 96 years later when the Fitzroy-Brisbane merger ensured the Fitzroy history would not be forgotten, it still ranked 10^th on the biggest wins list.

Mick Grace, an 1897-98 premiership player, and Lou Barker, in just the 6^th game of a career that would reach 150 games and take in the 1904-05 premierships, each kicked four goals.

Ninety-six years on Fitzroy played their last Round 7 game against Carlton at Princes Park.

They lost by 63 points on an afternoon when, scores aside, every little thing mattered.

Nineteen-year-old John Rombotis, in the 11^th game of a career that would later stretch to Port Adelaide and Richmond and extend to 48 games, collected a team-high 29 possessions and his only two Brownlow Medal votes.

Simon Hawking, later among the ‘Chosen Eight’ who would head to Brisbane via the merger but never to win a Brisbane Lions jumper, played his 50^th game.

And 18-year-old tall forward Brent Frewin, player #1155 on an all-time Fitzroy playing list of 1157, played his second and last game.

His career stats totalled five possessions, one behind, one hit-out and one tackle, yet he had an undeniable place in Fitzroy. He was the last player ever drafted by Fitzroy, having joined the club from South Mildura as pick #4 in the 1996 Pre-Season Draft

He was drafted by Richmond at the end of 1996 but never played another AFL game.

Interested in some Brisbane Bears Round 7 moments? Take a look here >