Bosk
Brownlow Medallist
After winning the flag the Pies are going to be hunted by every other club next year like there's no tomorrow. Just ask Geelong how that felt this year.
Of course the big difference is that Collingwood doesn't enjoy one of the strongest home ground advantages in the AFL, nor does it have the oldest list in the comp filled with strong bodied, experienced players like Geelong did.
Let's take a look at Collingwood's list shall we?
Beams 43 games
Brown 50 games
Dawes 30 games
Macaffer 26 games
Reid 29 games
Sidebottom 36 games
Wellingham 52 games
How do you reckon these blokes will go being hunted week in, week out by teams desperate to prove they can match it with the premiers?
Not to mention that they will all have their games closely scrutanized by other clubs over the summer, not something you'd think would've occured last year.
Then we come to the Pies more experienced players.
Luke Ball - Career is clearly tapering off, cannot get better.
Leigh Brown - Has been lucky to have a good year, still a question mark over him.
Travis Cloke - Good contested mark, pity the rest of his game is rubbish.
Leon Davis - Has he become the biggest running joke in football?
Alan Didak - Notoriously soft front runner. Poor in big games.
Darren Jolly - Top ruckman, but now past his prime.
Nick Maxwell - Permanent third man up who struggles with direct opponents.
Harry Obrien - Great at bouncing the footy. Overrated at everything else.
Scott Pendlebury - Solid midfielder creator who will cop a lot of added attention next year.
Simon Prestagiacomo - One dimensional stopper, either finished or on the way out.
Dane Swan - Glorified accumulator who's game relies on unlimited rotations and not being tagged.
Dale Thomas - Much improved. Is now a good, average AFL player.
Looking at that list, three things really stick out:
- Collingwood has an awful lot of grossly overrated players (hello Herald Sun!)
- Collingwood is chock full of flat track bullies who crumple under sustained pressure
- For a "young" team Collingwood sure has a lot of blokes who are nearing the end of their careers
And so the question becomes how will this bunch of "unlikely heroes" cope with being the #1 Target of season 2011?
My prediction is not nearly as well as Collingwood fans are hoping.
There are a lot of similarities that can be drawn between Hawthorn of 2008 and Collingwood of 2010. Firstly a blend of lots of young, enthusiastic kids and a bunch of older, stalwart players getting close to the end of their careers.
Second, a gameplan that took opposing teams by surprise.
Of course it goes without saying that this year's Collingwood team is no-where near as talented as Hawthorn of 2008. But then their GF opponent was no-where near as formidable as Geelong of 2008 either.
Despite that, against the predictions of many Hawthorn & non Hawthorn fans alike the Hawks failed dismally to back up in 2009 after copping several crucial and unforseen retirements, a bad run with injuries generally, and the rest of the league waking up to how to counter it's gameplan - not to mention the pressure of being Premiers in itself, something many of the Hawks' younger players obviously struggled with.
While there's no reason to think Collingwood will suffer a similar bad run of luck to the Hawks of 2009, there's no getting away from the fact that many of their players are similarly inexperienced and are going to be thrown into the deep end in 2011 - for 22 weeks straight.
I'm sure Malthouse will do everything he can to keep their heads level and their confidence up, but there are lots of excellent reasons why most teams fail to go back to back and I've listed some of those here.
Don't be surprised if the Collingwood of 2011 is only a shadow of 2010.
Of course the big difference is that Collingwood doesn't enjoy one of the strongest home ground advantages in the AFL, nor does it have the oldest list in the comp filled with strong bodied, experienced players like Geelong did.
Let's take a look at Collingwood's list shall we?
Beams 43 games
Brown 50 games
Dawes 30 games
Macaffer 26 games
Reid 29 games
Sidebottom 36 games
Wellingham 52 games
How do you reckon these blokes will go being hunted week in, week out by teams desperate to prove they can match it with the premiers?
Not to mention that they will all have their games closely scrutanized by other clubs over the summer, not something you'd think would've occured last year.
Then we come to the Pies more experienced players.
Luke Ball - Career is clearly tapering off, cannot get better.
Leigh Brown - Has been lucky to have a good year, still a question mark over him.
Travis Cloke - Good contested mark, pity the rest of his game is rubbish.
Leon Davis - Has he become the biggest running joke in football?
Alan Didak - Notoriously soft front runner. Poor in big games.
Darren Jolly - Top ruckman, but now past his prime.
Nick Maxwell - Permanent third man up who struggles with direct opponents.
Harry Obrien - Great at bouncing the footy. Overrated at everything else.
Scott Pendlebury - Solid midfielder creator who will cop a lot of added attention next year.
Simon Prestagiacomo - One dimensional stopper, either finished or on the way out.
Dane Swan - Glorified accumulator who's game relies on unlimited rotations and not being tagged.
Dale Thomas - Much improved. Is now a good, average AFL player.
Looking at that list, three things really stick out:
- Collingwood has an awful lot of grossly overrated players (hello Herald Sun!)
- Collingwood is chock full of flat track bullies who crumple under sustained pressure
- For a "young" team Collingwood sure has a lot of blokes who are nearing the end of their careers
And so the question becomes how will this bunch of "unlikely heroes" cope with being the #1 Target of season 2011?
My prediction is not nearly as well as Collingwood fans are hoping.
There are a lot of similarities that can be drawn between Hawthorn of 2008 and Collingwood of 2010. Firstly a blend of lots of young, enthusiastic kids and a bunch of older, stalwart players getting close to the end of their careers.
Second, a gameplan that took opposing teams by surprise.
Of course it goes without saying that this year's Collingwood team is no-where near as talented as Hawthorn of 2008. But then their GF opponent was no-where near as formidable as Geelong of 2008 either.
Despite that, against the predictions of many Hawthorn & non Hawthorn fans alike the Hawks failed dismally to back up in 2009 after copping several crucial and unforseen retirements, a bad run with injuries generally, and the rest of the league waking up to how to counter it's gameplan - not to mention the pressure of being Premiers in itself, something many of the Hawks' younger players obviously struggled with.
While there's no reason to think Collingwood will suffer a similar bad run of luck to the Hawks of 2009, there's no getting away from the fact that many of their players are similarly inexperienced and are going to be thrown into the deep end in 2011 - for 22 weeks straight.
I'm sure Malthouse will do everything he can to keep their heads level and their confidence up, but there are lots of excellent reasons why most teams fail to go back to back and I've listed some of those here.
Don't be surprised if the Collingwood of 2011 is only a shadow of 2010.
