COLLINGWOOD is on the slide.
Coach Nathan Buckley has refined the game style, the list and the culture — and the Pies have progressively tumbled down the ladder.
Winning 17 games in 2012, 14 in 2013 and after a disappointing 11 wins last season the natives are getting restless.
Make no mistake, this is Buckley’s club now and the premise that Collingwood was taking one step backwards to ensure two steps forward in the next three seasons is under the microscope.
Collingwood is an iconic brand, possibly the biggest trademark in Australian sport, but that hasn’t helped it with recruitment or retention. Who was the last key signing to the Magpies? The perception outside of the club is they meet with plenty, but sign none.
PROS
THE Magpies’ biggest asset throughout this season was their harassment pressure. The thirst to force the opposition into turnover was evident and was the most common reason they won games. Collingwood had a 5-5 record against top-eight teams and in all five victories they out-pressured their opponents and won the turnover battle.
The uncovering of depth was pleasing for Buckley as Lachlan Keefe, Jack Frost, Jarrod Witts, Tom Langdon and Brodie Grundy were forced ahead of time to shoulder the load. They played 94 games between them this year as a down payment on their development, while Ben Reid, Nathan Brown, Paul Seedsman and Nick Maxwell struggled to get on the park.
CONS
THE Collingwood midfield is overrated. They’re a midfield without damage, they fire blanks.
They have two major problems: they cannot win enough contested possessions at clearances and when in possession they cannot hit targets.
Collingwood ranked 14th for contested possessions last season, 15th for clearances and, most concerning, 17th for disposal differential against their opposition. They average 30 fewer possessions than their direct opponent every week.
Collingwood’s kicking efficiency is the second worst in the competition. Put simply, Collingwood cannot win enough ball and, if they do, they cannot keep it.
Are Steele Sidebottom and Jarryd Blair ready and capable of relaunching this midfield back among the competitions best?
The Pies can’t score. They averaged a meagre 80 points a game, but an alarming 66 points for the last two months of the home-and-away season.
Their forward 50 is a mess. Travis Cloke has gone from marquee to mediocre and the hysteria surrounding his classification as “above average” not “elite” in the Champion Data Prospectus last off-season will only be matched by its “average” (at best) rating next publication I’m sure.
Cloke has lost his contested marking supremacy only taking 32 this season which is well down on his yearly average of 73 over the past four years. He commanded marquee money and hasn’t delivered his end of the bargain.
What is Jesse White’s role? Can the Pies afford to use Jamie Elliott in the midfield when he’s their most productive forward 50 option?
When Dayne Beams exited, so too did the dream of a Scott Pendlebury-led premiership. Beams was the Pies’ best clearance player, inside-50 distributor and goalscoring midfielder with 20-plus goals again this year.
Pendlebury is a must-watch in the next 12-24 months as his monitoring of all decisions and planning is deeper than most players.
If Pendlebury was of the belief that Collingwood wasn’t on the path to premiership success at 27 years of age next season, then exercising his free agency options may be a consideration.
Buckley couldn’t afford to lose Beams, but Pendlebury’s departure would be a significant nail in his coaching coffin.
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