Collingwood: Next Three Crucial To Top Four Hopes

REAL FOOTY

Round 14 Collingwood v Hawthorn Friday July 3, 7:50pm MCG 7mate / Fox Footy 7:30pm Weather: Min 7 Max 14 Chance of rain 40%: < 1mm Wind: SW 20kph Betting: odds to come

Collingwood's top four ambitions are dwindling and depend heavily on how they perform over the next three weeks.
After the Magpies' four-game winning streak was cruelly ended by Fremantle at Subiaco on Thursday night, they may need to win as many as eight of their remaining nine games to finish in an important top-four position.

Round 14 July 03 Hawthorn Round 15 July 09 Port Adelaide Round 16 July 18 West Coast

The Pies threw everything at the Dockers on Thursday night, but fell seven agonising points shy of a fifth straight victory.
But waiting for them next week is reigning premier Hawthorn, followed by clashes with Port Adelaide (away) and a much-improved West Coast. A game in Sydney against the Swans in round 20 also needs to be considered - and will be crucial if the next three weeks don't go well.
In the past six years, Collingwood has finished in fourth spot twice – in 2012 with 16 wins and in 2009 with 15.
The Western Bulldogs scraped into fourth spot in 2010 with just 14 victories, meaning the Pies would still need six more victories to replicate that effort.
But the Eagles needed 17 to get there in 2011.
Last season, Fremantle had an 8-4 record after 12 games – the same as Collingwood has now – and finished in fourth spot, with a 16-6 record. Sydney had eight wins and a draw at the same stage in 2013 and then won seven from their following eight contests to finish among the top four and earn a second chance in the finals.
Regardless of the loss to the Dockers on Thursday though, Pies coach Nathan Buckley said everyone involved in the club would be comfortable that the players are on the right track.
"I'm disappointed that we didn't get the ultimate reward this evening, but there is plenty of reward that comes from this evening for the players and the club and potentially the supporters to understand that they have a group of young men, young leaders that they can be proud of that they know when they turn up and watch a game of football that we're gonna play the way we play," he said.
"Our consistency across this year has been first class in those regards, so there is plenty to take out of it.
"The effort was great, we didn't get the points - we move on to Hawthorn next week.
"Freo had to play pretty well to withstand our pressure and get the result. Our pressure was huge. Not many teams can withstand that onslaught of pressure for that long.
"It's a strong effort on our behalf to continue to put that on and obviously by Freo to be able to buffer it enough to be able to get the win.
"Our boys stood up and we didn't think we took a backward step at any stage, and we kept going. That's very encouraging and that's our brand, and that's what we expect."