Why Anzac Day clash is a celebration

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BILL Collier is why you get the goosebumps.

He doesn't see it that way, of course. Never has.

The humble World War II Digger not even sure why they're letting him into Friday's game for free.

"But they will,'' he grins of the Anzac Day blockbuster. "Give me a feed too."

So isn't it about time somebody told Billy the truth?

For just like Muhammad Ali in satin trunks, so rugby league will emerge puffing its chest come Friday afternoon — once again proclaiming to be the greatest.

Bill Collier and Greg Ashton speak to the media ahead of the Dragons-Roosters clash. Source: Getty Images

Pointing to an estimated Anzac Day crowd of 40,000 — as it did this time last year — as proof the NRL, the Commission, even that famed "E Squared" entertainment blueprint are all coming together just as promised.

Truth is, though, this crowd has almost nothing to do with footy — and everything to do with Bill.

Every spinning turnstile testament to a Sydney public who, while notoriously blase about live sport, care plenty about the blokes whose best years were spent on Gallipoli sand, or deep in the jungles of Vietnam.

While modern sport is undoubtedly about megastars, April 25 remains the one day where we turn out not for Sonny Bill Williams or Josh Dugan, but the old bloke with the dodgy hearing aid whose entire top grade career comprised 28 games.

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One week Collier running out with the Red V emblazoned on his chest, the next listening to Dragons games via radio — in New Guinea.

"But that's just how it was in those days,'' shrugs the veteran who turns 93 in June. "We could never train because blokes were all over the place.

"Every Saturday I'd travel down from the barracks in Maitland. Others came from elsewhere.

"Like in '43, I started the year playing footy but come finals, I was in the war."

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As the last surviving member of St George's inaugural 1941 premiership team, Collier is also league's "go to" man for Anzac Day press conferences each year.

A grandfather to 11, great-grandfather to 14 who, should you be lucky enough to share a cuppa, will recall gunship battles off New Guinea, a bout of dengue fever in Borneo and one endless night stationed on the island of Morotai, when his unit was bombed by the Japanese.

"We were positioned right between the wharves and the end of an airstrip," the former army mechanic will tell you. "And I'm still not sure which one they were trying to hit ... I only know they were missing both."

This is why you get the goosebumps.

Anzac Day football is a chance for Australians to show their respect and gratitude. Source: Getty Images

Why more than a game of rugby league, the Anzac Day clash has become part of the celebration. A chance for ordinary Australians to show respect simply by their presence.

Certainly the players get it.

Dragons forward Trent Merrin conceding that, while professional athletes should never be caught up in emotion, Anzac Day was the one notable exception. "Those last few minutes before the game,'' he says. "When you see the Diggers, hear the last post ... it's impossible not to get emotional."

BATTERED BUNNIES FIGHTING TO BE FIT

So who wants to tell Bill?

That anonymous Digger who, with a media scrum forming around Roosters stars Boyd Cordner and Shaun Kenny-Dowall, is off to the side. Sitting on the cushioned seat of his walking frame while tuning that hearing aid that "won't stop playing up lately",

"But it's good to let the young blokes do the talking,'' he laughs. "At this thing last year, they had us all behind a big desk, lots of microphones. But, you know, I'm not really keen on that fuss."

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