How will Collingwood cope with being "The Hunted" in 2011?

[Ricmel]

Pies will almost certainly be top 4 and strong chance to make GF.

But other teams will catch up and quick. We saw StKilda in 2009 introduce a new style of play. Pies took it a step further in 2010. All clubs will be training this type of game plan in the off season and expect a few new twists.

 

[Greeney]

A lot of wishful thinking !!

 

[yeee_haaaa!!!!!]

they weren't hunted in this year's finals series? finished top and belted each of geel stk dogs the last time they'd played in the h&a. pretty sure each of those teams entered the finals series hunting the pies scalp. and didn't it turn out well for them all....

 

[Manic Shadow]

Someone is sad Hawthorn just imploded.

Agree, this poster has some wishful thinking. maybe help them feel better their team is rubbish
A team nowhere near as talented as Hawks '08?!? rediculous

 

[Dundalis]

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.

In other words, the best side in the league over the regular season and Premiership winners, were actually a team full of shit players? How the **** did we win a flag then? Are you saying that all the sides we beat were flat tracks, right up to the GF. This includes your mob. By your reckoning we are a bottom 4 side. Well if we can win flags being flat track bullies because everyone we beat are flat tracks then who cares? Being a flat track bully must be no weakness at all then.

Who are the blokes at the end of their careers? We have one player 30 or above on our list. The players you list as being on the downside of their careers are in their mid to late 20's, in other words about to hit, or right in the middle of their prime. Darren Jolly has the best season of his career and he is past his prime? What an clown you are.

I actually agree that in terms of pure skill and ability, the Hawks are possibly more gifted across the board. But we have superior one on one players and are quicker than your mob. It evens out. Hawthorn have one x-factor most teams cannot match in Franklin. Without him your side is nowhere near as good. I expect your team to be genuine contenders next season given an injury free run. You would want to be bitterly disappointed as a Hawthorn supporter if you put up another effort like 2009 and 2010.

Collingwood have been a consistent Finals presence, and more than that gone consistently deep into Finals for a number of years now. Something that could not be said for Hawthorn prior to 2008. You could say Hawthorns 2008 campaign in it's entirety was a fluke based on recent history. While Collingwood have consistently built towards this on the back of good Finals campaigns for a number of years. This is a far better indication of how we will cope than your useless analysis that we will buckle under the supposed 'tag' of being number 1.

But I guess if you want to pretend to be an expert on footy analysis go right ahead, indulge yourself.

 

[Visions]

Wow, reading the dribble of the first post, it's a miracle Collingwood made the top 8, let alone won the premiership considering how shit our players are!!!

Next year will be the same as this year.

In June they will be saying we are peaking too early.
in July they will be saying we are peaking too early.
In August they will be saying we are peaking too early.
In early September they will be saying the Colliwobbles will set in.
On September 24th they will be saying the Colliwobbles will set in.
On September 25th, they will be crying and start a thread on BF titled "How will Collingwood cope with being "The Hunted" in 2012?

 

[JuKa]

I never realised how bad hawthorn fans were until i joined Big Footy, it's almost funny how biased they can be

 

[dymmot]

Collingwood are used to being the hunted. That's why they were expecting a large police presence at all grand final events.

 

[Bay Pie]

There is no hunted, only hunt.

The Premiers HUNT!

Men hunt, women (nee Hawthorn) nest.

Hawthorn are just so irrelevant it's not funny.

 

[Charlotte]

After Hawthorn won the grand final (and you do what you do to win) they changed the rules, Hawthorn not only had a hangover season they had to change their tactics and game plan. Now whilst the AFL have not put a cap on the number of interchanges they are moving in that direction with their latest change. If they did cap the interchange Collingwood would be so stuffed.

Look at the interchange numbers that Geelong and Saints have and compare it to Collingwoods, endurance is a much greater show of fitness then sprinting. (Also perhaps there numbers are so high because as soon as Swann is tagged he comes off the ground )

Plus Collingwood now have their own sex scandle to deal with, and other off field issues. I am going to give it a couple of games into next season before I call anything

 

[Lazyboy]

did not read fool!

 

[The Panther]

I'll be surprised if we lose more than 2 games next year. We'll finish at least 4 wins ahead of the 2nd placed team.

 

[Bosk]

Lots of insecure Collingwood fans on display in this thread, already boasting of going back to back to mask over their secret fear that 2010 was a fluke and that the Pies will crash back to earth in 2011....

 

[Shawt]

Clearly, a team with all that shit needs to have something intangible to even be competitive, let alone be Premiers. I don't think we'll be dropping off too much.

We would have to be a real clusterf*&^ of a rabble to follow Hawthorns lead.

 

[Bay Pie]

We are not hawthorn 2008,still hard to swallow how bad you have been since then?

Became irrelevant damn quick didn't they.

 

[Pies time is NOW]

Geelong - No Ablett.

St Kilda - mental scars.

Hawthorn - rely on Hodge and Franklin too much..

All the others are pretenders.

2011 = 2010 reloaded.

 

[tazhawk]

Any chance of the toothless brigade taking it 2 Flags every 50 years at a time?

 

[Pies time is NOW]

Any chance of the toothless brigade taking it 2 Flags every 50 years at a time?

may be 3 or 4 or 5 in a row...who knows.

We tend to do 4 in a row every 90 years or so.

 

[tazhawk]

may be 3 or 4 or 5 in a row...who knows.

I do.

 

[Bay Pie]