In the next few weeks until the start of the 2010 season on 25th March 2010 we will review in depth every 16 clubs. We started off with Fremantle, then the Bulldogs and then the Kangaroos. Now we look at Collingwood.
After Kick2Kick reviews each club, we will give their full season 2010 predictions like we did last year. If you would like to review a team or something else, please contact us.
What happened last year
After what could have been a career ending start for the coach at 2-5, the Pies rallied to get into the top 4 by mid season and eventually finished with 15 wins & 7 losses. They also ended up less than 1% from 3rd spot. Unfortunately the finals campaign was disappointing with a relatively courageous loss to the Saints and a comprehensive defeat by the eventual premiers.
The win over Adelaide gave the team belief that they could be a contender in the prelim final but it really did show the distance between top 2 and the rest.
What will happen in 2010
After finishing top four in 2009, the expectations are high at Collingwood that it will take the next step up the ladder. The draw is perceived to be difficult and could be the major stumbling block but with the addition of a proven ruckman and ball (no pun) winner in the midfield, the Pies are poised to make the top four again and with natural improvement from 2nd and 3rd year players will be applying massive pressure on the older guys to keep their standards up or start filling the VFL team.
I think this year you’ll see the likes of Shane O’Bree and Tarkyn Lockyer finding it hard to stay in the team if their form drops off. There are many youngsters looking to break into the side on a permanent basis. Steele Sidebottom and Dayne Beams had good 1st years and Brent McCaffer showed enough to suggest he’s going to push hard for a first 22 spot.
Players to watch
Darren Jolly – The ex-swans premiership ruckman joins the Pies to solve one of its biggest deficiencies of the past 7 years, getting first use of the ball at ruck contests. While Josh Fraser has the fitness to run most ruckmen into the ground, it’s in the one on one contest that Collingwood have suffered. Expect Jolly to provide that first use.
Dayne Beams had a great debut year & expect more of the same especially under Jolly's feet
Dayne Beams – Had an impressive debut year, playing more games than most fans expected but he’s got the knack of finding the ball in traffic and doing something with it.
He only played 1 half of the NAB cup game against the Saints and was one of the reasons the Pies came back. Expecting big things from this youngster as he forges his own reputation in what is a strong midfield unit.
Harry O’Brien – One of the fans favourite players, Harry will play a key role in providing run off the back line, venturing forward and kicking goals while holding dangerous opponents out of the action.
Bench warmers
Sean Rusling – Unfortunately, injury is his worst enemy and I would say he’s going to find it hard to crack it into the seniors. Only injury to Jack Anthony or Travis Cloke will see this young man get a chance.
Ryan Cook – As Jack Dyer used to say, he’s a good ordinary player but more on the ordinary side. He doesn’t have what it takes to find a permanent spot in the midfield and his only other option is as a tagger but he’s behind Alan Toovey on that score.
Ben Johnson – He’s one of Mick’s favourites so he’s probably got 2 years left at the club. His best is certainly behind him.
Needs to improve
Heath Shaw – After a very slow start to the year, Heath made up for lost time with a strong finish, but now he needs to make it a solid season rather than half a season.
Ben Reid – The man much maligned for his ridiculous kicking for goal “style” is finding his niche in the backline after a year being re-programmed in the VFL, he’s ready to take the next step into one of the strongest backlines of the last 15 games of last year.
Likely finish: top 2
Your thoughts
Picking two ready-made players and another who could force his way into the team, have Collingwood finally performed the trading miracle that will take them past the like of Geelong and St Kilda and 08 premiers (and recent nemesis) Hawthorn to glory?
Is the draw just too hard for this team which still boast many young players?
March 5th, 2010 at 8:07 am
Think you are being a bit harsh on Heath Shaw. He is a key player
March 5th, 2010 at 8:49 am
Bob, yes I am, I just think he needs to hit the ground running this year as opposed to last year and ’08 where he really didn’t have a great year. He seems to have sorted out being tagged. He is very important to the team.
March 5th, 2010 at 9:10 am
Has he sorted out how to handle tags? I have not yet seen that. Maybe the loss of his brother hurt him last year, I have heard he will be playing more midfield this year and that could be a good decision.
March 5th, 2010 at 12:34 pm
Jermayn, I think he has learned, his second half last year showed that he could do it. I’m skeptical that he’d play much time in the middle, only if required. He reads the ball in flight so well and get into defensive positions better than most of our guys (except for Maxwell).
March 6th, 2010 at 12:59 pm
I like your optimism tony but am having second thoughts on the pies chances this year.
What makes you think that the Pies can make top 2 when in the last 4 weeks of the ’09 season they played the Dogs(3rd), Saints (2nd), Crows(5th) and Cats(1st) and not only had a 1-3 record (and a very lucky 1 at that!) but only scored 258 points in these games and had 378 kicked against them?
This equates to 64 points per game for and 94 points per game against. When you consider that their Home and Away averages were 98.8 for and 80 against you can see that when the heat was turned up their performance dropped dramatically.
In all honesty I don’t see how Ball and Jolly will change this given that collingwood have had a significant run at the finals in the past decade and the same players keep coming up short. Leon Davis, Travis Cloke, Dale Thomas even Dane Swan was ordinary in the post season after blitzing the regular season.
March 7th, 2010 at 9:09 am
First and foremost they will not make the top two…just remember who else is up near the top, Bulldogs, Geelong and St Kilda, with Adelaide and brisbane looking to have big years. Just by the team they have on paper they would currently be sitting in fourth position…maybe even fifth.
They are not that good of a team as everyone thinks and as Deano pointed out they don’t seem to be great under pressure, and realistically they shouldn’t have even made it to the preliminary final and look what happened when they did.
Do they even have a forward line? I watched the pre season game against the Saints and Cloke imo is a waste of time, Leigh Brown seems ok but other than that they have Didak and Medhurst who are consistently inconsistent. I cannot see them making the GF and with other teams coming up behind them they need to address the holes in their team and fast.
March 7th, 2010 at 2:37 pm
Deano, it comes with the territory to pump your team up. But seriously, if you analyse those last four games the main reason for the failure were related to not getting the ball out of the middle. We were just smashed at the ruck contests and couldn’t get the ball back so we relied on turnovers. I think you’ll see much improvement in that area.
Mike, I think Adelaide are effectively gone before the season even starts with the amount of injuries they’ve already racked up and Brisbane while having recruited pretty much everyone who was available, still don’t know if Fev and Brown can play in the same team. I think they’ve recruited to boost Voss’s (ego and) chances of winning a flag right now but they are probably no where near Saints and Cats in terms of talent. The Bullies were almost beaten by a fairly inexperienced Port side the other night, which was only won in the last minute, not the best form. So on the form I’ve seen so far I think Collingwood have been biding it’s time and setting up for a strong season. I think after the first 6 rounds we’ll see how they shape up.
March 7th, 2010 at 6:43 pm
Tony I’m happy with your reply as it seems quite balanced However, to describe that The Dogs inability to put away an inexperienced Port Adelaide side as “not the best form” is utterly ludicrous when you take into account what they did to the sides they played in the two weeks previous. I think most people would agree when I suggest that before the NAB Cup both The Eagles and Crows would have been more fancied to finish higher in the season proper then the Power. I’m not sure that is the case now, to me they have been easily the most impressive side of the pre season so far and if they can keep up that kind of intensity at the ball then they will be a real show to sneak a finals berth.
Like you I am happy to see how the season pans out but do not for one minute underestimate how well the Power are playing at the moment. Any side that is not switched on 100% will be beaten by them. Great sides have the ability to scrounge out wins even when they are not at their best or are being challenged by a more willing opponent, this is what the Dogs were able to achieve on Fri night.
March 8th, 2010 at 9:15 am
oh I gotta jump in here and give my opinion to add to this mini argument
I think what Jolly and Ball bring is the history of performing in finals where various Collingwood players have unperformed continuously.
Jolly gives Fraser (a dud ruckman and #1 pick) less pressure to lead the ruck and now he can play forward. Cloke (I agree with Mike is a waste of time and maybe they should off load him to the Gold Coast for some future picks) will then have another tall target to help him as Reid & Rusling are nothing but Bench Warmers.
Can they make the top two? Maybe if Buckley could wind the clock back…
March 11th, 2010 at 6:02 pm
@jermayn, As a tap ruckman, Fraser is weak, only due to his lack of height and size. As a ruck-rover, he performs well and can play the link man role through the middle of the ground that other lumbering ruckmen can’t. Cloke had an off year and can be excused, he runs hard and is difficult to beat when he lead out, agreed that his kicking is atrocious at times but as with others (like Matty Richardson) when he doesn’t think about his kicking for goal he invariably snags one from 50 out on the boundary, just one of those things with him. Reid is going to blitz this year from defence and Rusling will have to wait for an injury.
March 12th, 2010 at 9:54 am
So Fraser will be a Lynch playing in the middle which can allow you to double team the ruckman etc (Port Adelaide did this to perfection last year). To be honest I like Fraser forward with Cloke (who can then go and chase the ball up the ground) and Anthony.
March 15th, 2010 at 1:06 pm
Whatever the plan was on Saturday, it obviously worked. I see people saying that Port may have suffered as they have traveled 3 weeks in a row… Boo Hoo. At least they were still within their state…..
The “take away” from this game was the spread of goal kickers and probably the end of the single target up forward. (despite what we saw in the NAB cup final).