Round 1
COLLINGWOOD v SWANS
Saturday March 26, 7:25pm SCG 7mate 7:00pm Fox Footy 7:20pm Weather: To come Betting: Collingwood $2.40 Swans $1.57 |
2015 ladder position: 12th
2016 predicted ladder range: 4-6th
Just as no club was more blighted by injuries than Collingwood in 2015, it's possible that none will face greater expectations for rapid improvement in the current campaign.
A top-four side at the half-way mark of the past two seasons, the Pies have failed to reach the finals both times.
That simply won't do this year and if we're honest, given a clean bill of health it's unlikely to.
Genuine contenders don't use injuries as excuses but Collingwood truly did endure a nightmare run in 2015, losing five games by under two goals in the second half of the year after they'd been cushioned by a soft draw for the first half.
But even when hobbled they pushed the top sides hard. That bodes well for a first-string side.
This is a list that should theoretically move to the billing of flag contender across the next 4-5 seasons, a point midfielder Steele Sidebottom made well after the Pies locked him in until the end of 2021. Collingwood's re-signing of Taylor Adams, Jack Crisp and Adam Oxley can't hurt to that end, either.
 |
Adam Treloar should be a dynamic addition to Collingwood's midfield in 2016.
Photograph: Quinn Rooney/Getty Images |
In come brutish midfielder Adam Treloar, high-leaping defender Jeremy Howe and the classy but unfulfilled James Aish, the last of whom is now placed in the best possible position given the support around him.
Whether he can break into the senior line-up and stay there remains to be seen.
At present he's well down the pecking order behind the likes of Scott Pendlebury, Dane Swan, Adams and Sidebottom.
There's good news for Collingwood within existing ranks, too. Hopes remain high that highly-rated swingman Ben Reid has fully recovered from the various ailments that restricted him to just nine games in the past two seasons.
Pies assistant coach Scott Burns was ebullient in his praise for Reid over the pre-season period. "However important you think [Alex] Rance is to Richmond," Burns said, "I reckon Ben Reid is not far off that important at Collingwood."
 |
Jordan De Goey (left) and Darcy Moore are among a host of talented young
Pies who should put the club in Premiership contention over the next
half-decade. Photograph: Michael Willson/AFL Media/Getty Images
|
The latter is one of many players given extended runs in the seniors in the past few years, a move that should start reaping rewards now. Unburdened by having to be too many things at once, Howe could do anything.
Another thing Collingwood has going for it is a developing list of legitimate forwards to form a multi-faceted scoring plan, one that doesn't just rely on Travis Cloke and his wonky kicking. Darcy Moore's putting meat on his bones and has already shown his undisputed class, but Corey Gault and giant American Mason Cox have been the pre-season revelations.
They could provide match-up nightmares, especially 211-centimetre Cox. The latter will nevertheless compete with the likes of Jarrod Witts and Brodie Grundy for a ruck slot.
Expectations have well and truly set in for Nathan Buckley and this side, but they're now also well placed to challenge for the next half-decade thanks to canny recruitment off the back of losing the likes of Dale Thomas, Heath Shaw, Dayne Beams and Sharrod Wellingham.
Everywhere you look there's a younger player who provides a spark; Tom Langdon, Marley Williams, Jack Frost and Oxley in defence, Adams, Treloar, Crisp and Jarryd Blair in the middle, and De Goey, Moore, Alex Fasolo and Jamie Elliot in front of goal.
Considering the blend of established senior stars and top young talent on display here, Collingwood's long odds in Premiership betting are perhaps generous. If any side from outside last season's eight finds itself in a preliminary final this year, it could well be the Pies.
No comments :
Post a Comment