2015 Season Preview

The Roar - Cameron Palmer

Collingwood have been disappointing in the last few seasons, but could 2015 be the year where Nathan Buckley’s philosophy starts to pay off? Let’s take a look at seven stories that you mightn’t have read about during the pre-season.

1. Top 10 picks
In the final years of the Mick Malthouse era and even at the commencement of the Nathan Buckley era Collingwood was a team that had ignored the top end of the draft to remain a premiership contender.
To remain a contender they had traded out top picks for established players. That mentality has clearly changed under Buckley and Collingwood has again gone back to the top of the draft, having dual top 10 picks in the past two seasons.
Though Matthew Scharenberg, Nathan Freemen, Jordan De Goey and Darcy Moore are yet to make an impact, Collingwood’s history suggests they will. The last time Collingwood had four top 10 picks inside two years was during 2005 and 2006 when the club added Dale Thomas, Scott Pendlebury, Ben Reid and Nathan Brown. Just four years removed from that second draft Collingwood had a premiership with all four of this group playing significant roles.
It may not happen in 2015, but the tough times that are currently being experienced by Magpie fans could very quickly change if they repeat the history of 2005.

2. Doubling the injury curse
A lot has been made of the Collingwood injuries in 2014 and over the current pre-season, but not much has been made of the consistent nature of repeat injuries.
Last year alone the following players missed games because of at least two separate or related injuries; Luke Ball, Dayne Beams, Tim Broomhead, Nathan Brown, Sam Dwyer, Jamie Elliot, Jack Frost, Cory Gault, Patrick Karnezis, Tom Langdon, Brent Macaffer, Nick Maxwell, Adam Oxley, Ben Reid, Matthew Scharenberg, Paul Seedsman, Ben Sinclair, Dane Swan, Alan Toovey, Jesse White, Marley Williams and Clinton Young.
That is an entire starting 22 that saw dual-injury setbacks. The internal questions have to be on whether players are being raced back into the team too soon and therefore causing repeat injuries or whether the medical staff has been too cautious. Expect off-field changes to have occurred at Collingwood to address these issues.

3. Forward help
Collingwood has unsuccessfully tried to get help for Travis Cloke over the past two seasons with the gambles on recycled players Jesse White and Quinten Lynch failing to play the supporting role. Goals will continue to be a real concern and the sticking point of a rebound year for the Magpies.
Perhaps conventional thinking will be replaced by innovation in the Collingwood forward line with the small and mid-sized players to make up for a lack of second foil to Cloke. It almost feels like Collingwood do need to try something out of the ordinary to help with its forward line potency in 2015.

4. Steely resolve
The loss of Dayne Beams to Brisbane has been widely discussed but not much has been said about what this could mean for the player that has always been linked with Beams in their time at Collingwood – Steele Sidebottom. Coming into the team and developing at similar stages, this duo was seen as the future midfield for the Magpies.
With Beams going out, expectations have been on the incoming Levi Greenwood and Travis Varcoe to make up for the midfield loss. But the potential is there that the Beams departure is what spurs Sidebottom to the AFL’s top echelon of midfielders. Sidebottom has the temperament and ability to be one of the best, now he also has the opportunity. With captain Scott Pendlebury needing a true second superstar in the midfield, Sidebottom may be the player to deliver.

5. Late pick development
While concerns have been raised about the development of individuals under the Buckley system, there are a number of under-the-radar late round selections that have proven to flourish under Buckley. Tom Langdon is the major endorsement for Buckley, proving to be one of the best first year players last season after being picked at 65 in the 2013 draft.
Marley Williams was a rookie-listed player who has overcome off-field indiscretions to give Collingwood some much needed run. Josh Thomas, who was picked 75 in the 2009 draft, has improved immensely under Buckley. Jarrod Witts came to the club as a 67 pick yet has outplayed ruck mate Brodie Grundy over 2013 and Paul Seedsman, who was picked 76 in 2010, has become one of Collingwood’s brightest prospects. For the questions raised on Buckley, this group of five is proof that he can get the best out of any player on a list.

6. The early surprise packet
Most experts seem to be down on Collingwood heading into the 2015 season but at worst they are still among the seven or eight contenders for the lower rungs of the eight. This is a team with enough talent to win on any given day. Indeed if a Collingwood match is taken for granted early in the season they could be a surprise packet.
Given that in their first five weeks they face Brisbane, Adelaide, St Kilda, Essendon and Carlton it is a friendly start to the season. While they will not start favourites in all of those games the potential is there for them to win most of them. Expectations will quickly change if they can put up a winning run to start to the year. Each year there is an early season surprise and Collingwood could be that team in 2015.

7. Buck stops here
In recent AFL history no first-time coach has had the job security that Nathan Buckley has as Collingwood coach, apart from James Hird at Essendon. Indeed Buckley’s ascension to coach had been forecast long before he even finished with his playing career. Probably for the first time in 2014 questions were raised about Buckley’s abilities to lead Collingwood and whether he had the club on the right track.
Looking at the list that Buckley has built, this is his team and he is clearly taking the club down a path and playing with a style that he believes will bring success. Like all projects there are points when it appears unfounded, but the list that he has developed has the potential to become premiers. It is now on Buckley to make good on that potential. 2015 has to be when he starts to show more widespread development to individuals and indeed the group as a whole.