Someone had to tell Lachie Schultz he kicked his 150th career goal against the Western Bulldogs last week; the man himself had no idea.
All going well, he will play his 50th match for Collingwood the week after Monday’s Big Freeze 12 clash against Melbourne. Did he know that minor milestone was on the horizon? No idea.
That should be no surprise. The nuggety ex-tradie from Moama doesn’t seek personal accolades, preferring to concentrate on his team winning and hitting contests like a diamond-core drill bores through concrete.
Instead, Schultz believes every match is worth celebrating, his appreciation for his life as a professional footballer stemming from three years as a plumber and playing VFL for Williamstown before Fremantle drafted him in 2018.
“I guess doing it the hard way and going through the VFL and living in the real world for a few years before I started in the league just made me appreciate the job more,” Schultz said.
“My mindset going out there every week is just to appreciate and be grateful and not take things for granted.”
Collingwood’s forward line can’t take anything for granted right now, except perhaps Schultz, if truth be told.
The loss of champion forward Jamie Elliott for the season, the absence of Bobby Hill and the list management decisions to move on Brody Mihocek and Mason Cox have left the Magpies without any winners of their leading goalkicker award from the past seven years.
Throw in the departures of Ollie Henry and Jack Ginnivan since Craig McRae arrived as coach in 2022 and the changes are more obvious.
“We back our system, we back our players in, and we back our depth in. Whether that means we move the magnets around a little bit, or we look to someone new … [that] excites me,” Schultz said.
“If that means my role changes a little bit then that’s what I do for the team, and I’m sure all the other guys in that forward line feel the same way.”
On Monday, Collingwood will introduce forward Mitch Podhajski, a 27-year-old Coburg goalkicker who was added to the list via the mid-season draft.
He can rely on Schultz to have his back, the small forward keen to pass on the support he received in his first season at the Magpies when his performances didn’t meet external expectations and critics showed their hand.
“I take everything personally when I see guys coming in, and whether they’re copping it from the external world, or the media, or whatever it may be, I’ve been there, [and] I know what it’s like,” Schultz said.
“If I can help them in any way I’ll be the first one to try to give them some expertise or some advice. I’ll just give them someone to lean on and share what’s going on because I’ve been there, and I was able to have people in my corner when I was [going through] that in those stages of my career. For me to be able to pass that knowledge on is valuable.
“Throughout my first 12 months at the club the reinforcement I got about how valued I was inside the four walls was just overpowering. That allowed me to really find my groove and get my claws into the team and my role and my relationships on the field, and allowed me to really go out there and execute with a clear head.”
Schultz has grown into his role at Collingwood, excelling in 2026 and producing – in a statistical sense – the form he showed in his final season at Fremantle (2023) as he takes up some of the slack created by Hill’s absence.
“We won’t put any timelines on Bobby [returning to the senior team]. We want to see him happy, and we want to see his footy shining again. With that comes the fitness side of it … we just want to get everything right before we make any decisions,” Schultz said.
This year Schultz is the AFL’s best tackler inside his team’s forward 50m, averaging 2.3 tackles a match in that part of the ground. He wins contested possessions 37.8 per cent of the time, his accuracy is good, he wins one on ones and, most notably, runs himself to the point of exhaustion during matches.
His chase-down tackle of former Magpie Adam Treloar at Marvel Stadium in round 12 was football’s version of steer wrestling; the sort of act which won over football fans who had admired his work at the Dockers, where he kicked 101 goals in 90 matches.
In the days leading up to any match, Schultz makes sure he is “in a mental space that you’re ready to give everything and how hard it’s going to be”.
“You get addicted to that sort of feeling of pushing yourself to the limits,” he said. “I think the competitive beast in everyone is what drives us to be here, and that’s what sets AFL players apart. If you come in with a mindset of just competing your arse off … that’s where I go, and I’m sure a lot of other guys do too.”
There is no doubt the 46 players involved in Monday’s Big Freeze match – just a fortnight after motor neurone disease claimed the life of Neale Daniher, who created the event – will be competing their arses off.
Daniher’s battle with “The Beast”, as he termed the disease, was inspiring as he worked to raise awareness and money for research.
Schultz had just heard an emotional pre-match address from Daniher’s wife, Jan, and daughter, Bec, before he spoke this masthead.
“[That was] very powerful … you just sit there in a bit of awe,” he said. “You realise how much of an honour it is to be a part of the whole event and the privilege to be involved in such a special day. Especially this year; it’s going to be the biggest of them all,” Schultz said.
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Disclaimer : This story is auto aggregated by a computer programme and has not been created or edited by DOWNTHENEWS. Publisher: www.smh.com.au
