When I started writing footy for the Launceston Examiner, you could sit in the press box at York Park and look past the railway workshops where my grandfather and uncles worked to Mount Barrow in the east. That view is blocked now because York Park is Aurora Stadium, with tiers of seating the whole way round, but on Thursday evening you could still see a magnificent sky with pink and gold clouds that told you it had been a wet summer's day.

Collingwood played Hawthorn in the NAB Challenge opener and Collingwood won. I could be wrong but I can't remember Collingwood playing in Tasmania before. In 1966, that mythical year for the Saints, it seemed that Tasmania divided into St Kilda and Collingwood supporters. You can still find them in Tassie – loyal St Kilda supporters, loyal to the Tasmanian trio of Baldock, Stewart and Howell. Stewart and Howell won four Brownlow Medals between them, yet many say Baldock was the best of all.

In 1967, I squeezed into Burnie's West Park along with a ground-record crowd of 12,951 to see  St Kilda defeat the North West Football Union,  35.27 (237) to 13.7 (85). St Kilda rover Ross Smith would win the Brownlow Medal that year. Early on, he smothered a kick with his chin. The smack of the ball on his face resounded around the ground. He ran on as if nothing had happened, attacking the ball with even more might than before. The Saints seemed like giants to my boyish eyes.

I was put in this reflective mood by the callers of Thursday's game on Fox who said that this is footy's 150th year in Tasmania. Exactly how they got that figure I'm not sure, not that it really matters. Most dates that support a claim to sporting history are disputed. But, in the course of the match, I was reminded of when Brent Crosswell, twice best on ground in VFL/AFL grand finals, asked my old man if he'd seen Tas Crosswell, Brent's grandfather, play. Dad would have been about 90 when he received the request.

It took him a few hours but eventually he located a memory like an old film clip in the back of his mind. Early 1920s, York Park, the Northern Tasmanian Football Association versus the Hobart-based Tasmanian Football League, Tas Crosswell takes a high mark in the left forward pocket, northern end of the ground. "He went up like an angel," said the old man, and in his face I saw the imprint of a footy moment he saw around the same age I saw Ross Smith at West Park.

Collingwood's win on Thursday was unexpected and I was pleased for Nathan Buckley. He's a true believer in the game, which is altogether different from the many people now attaching themselves to the game and seeking careers in the football "industry". Who played well for the Pies? Grundy was strong in the ruck. One of the commentators, possibly Jonathan Brown, said he's the best young ruckman in the AFL. Alex Fasolo played well as a forward. I've always liked Fasolo and his neat skills.  The Pies had lots of good players, a whole team of them. That's the Buckley way.

As for the Hawks, I watched Sam Mitchell. A former Hawthorn premiership player told me recently that Mitchell may rate in the best five Hawthorn players of all time! Apparently, it was his decision to play in the NAB Challenge. I'd say he used the outing to practise his timing. Mitchell does what the greatest players in all sports do – he stretches time, he makes it elastic, the players around him are moving just as furiously, but he and the ball are in some other sphere.

But the most notable personality on the night was probably Jonathan Brown. He energised the commentary team like he used to energise his teammates. Big, bluff and hearty, Brown  is the spiritual heir to Ted Whitten. Fox introduced him with a segment in which a list of contemporary players,  including Jimmy Bartel and Brendon Goddard, did Jonathan Brown impersonations, delivering lines they heard him utter on the playing field.  And I wasn't disappointed by his opening remarks as a commentator. "It's a hard game," he announced in his gravelly voice, "I hope I remember that."

Alastair Clarkson didn't coach. He watched from the side and you could imagine his temper steadily rising. Michael Gordon's book Playing to Win shows Clarkson to be a broader and more nuanced character than his public image, but I still believe Clarkson's temper is integral to his success. It puts him in the tradition of great coaches like Norm Smith and Ron Barassi. He doesn't like losing. He positively reacts against it and drags his team with him.

He also has a cool head alongside him in Hawthorn footy manager Chris Fagan. Fagan is from Queenstown on the west coast of Tasmania. His father coached two local clubs, Gormanston and Lyell. As a kid, I saw both teams – Gormie, the mountain men, played in blue and white, Lyell in maroon and gold. They, too, deserve to be remembered in the 150th year of football in Tasmania as we contemplate exactly where the game comes from and what we owe it.