James Clement is a CEO, Director and former Collingwood champion currently living in Perth. He’s remembered for his versatility as a defender, being able to play on small and tall forwards and being exceptional one-on-one with superb rebound line-breaking abilities. In 2021, the AFL ranked Clement as Collingwood’s best defender of the 21st century. He possesses a high football intellect but rarely gives interviews. In a Pie Hard exclusive, we chat about his low key retirement from the Pies and why he wouldn’t change a thing, his move from Fremantle to Collingwood and the pitch from Mick Malthouse that won him over, his early memories of living in Melbourne and stepping inside Victoria Park for the first time, Collingwood’s much-loved ‘foreign legion of misfits’, which teammate was affectionately named after a volleyball, recasting himself as an All-Australian running rebound defender, the James Hird push in the back fiasco, his thoughts on former protege Héritier Lumumba and the player he would hand his number 8 jumper to, the cultural challenges faced by old institutions, and his high-flying career post football.