I’ll give you four reasons….

why Collingwood will win the 2013 Premiership.

  1. Having had a year to experiment with tactics and further his understanding of the abilities of the players, this will be Nathan Buckley’s second year as coach. On the basis of finishing fourth on the ladder last year with the Cloke contract circus, losing Luke Ball and Lachlan Keefe to injury, minor player behavior slip ups (Swan’s two week suspension) and the tragic loss of John McCarthy; under the reign of Buckley the Magpies had a great season despite not being there on Grand final day. With lessons learnt and hopefully minimal injuries, Buckley should be able to better last year’s outcome and steal his first Flag. I mean look how well he did last year considering all the above!

 

 

  1. Last year Bucks had seventeen other coaches to compete with and psych out but none of them were Mick Malthouse. Im sure Bucks now has a burning desire to prove himself and what better way to do so than beat Mick Malthouse…I mean Carlton (possibly on grand final day!?). Obviously Buckley’s first mission would be to finish higher on the ladder than Mick, make sure we get more wins, maybe even knock out Mick, his mustache and his Blues out of the finals and then go on to win the flag, now there’s an idea. And with these obvious feelings of revenge Nathan will be strategizing dirtier, meaner and more determined than ever this year, giving Collingwood the edge they need to win their next flag.

 

 

 

  1. When the news that we had secured Quinten Lynch was confirmed I couldn’t help but give a sigh of relief. They say the game is won in the ruck right? A good hit-out and boom, the ball is in Travis Cloke’s hands quicker than you can blink. In past years Collingwood has had issues recruiting/drafting a steady ruckman.Vintage Pie Josh Fraser was thrown into the ruck too early and his body type ( too thin) was battered up in the ruck resulting to his niggling knee injuries which plagued him throughout his career. Cameron Wood, a beloved character by both fans and players, was unable to secure his position long-term, as he was always pinned as the back-up ruckman to Darren Jolly, with both Malthouse and Buckley even favoring the use of Dawes in the ruck over Wood who was recently let go by the club. American Pie Shae McNamara showed he had great athletic ability through his basketball background but was unable to play a senior game for Collingwood and was also let go. And so the ruckman curse was fixed. First we recruited West Coast Premiership ruckman Lynch which is exactly what we needed; a full grown, big bodied player with years of experience ready to jump in and help Jolly or replace Jolly. Then just to make sure we had back-up-back-up we secured Ben Hudson who we could also throw into the ruck whenever we wanted to play Lynch up forward and rest Jolly. But wait! There’s MORE, one more and he is the player I am most looking forward to seeing debut. In the draft Collingwood picked young but towering 202cm Brodie Grundy (pick 18), who has impressed the club so much they have given him the honor of wearing the #35 Simon Prestigiacomo jumper. Grundy is built like a brick house and im sure he will be the star ruckman who will change the future for Collingwood in the center square, and with that the ruckman problem is no more. Expect domination in hit-outs for Collingwood this year!

 

 

  1. We may have lost Sharrod Wellingham BUT Buckley and his staff made sure to fill in the gaps buy snaring Clinton Young and Jordan Russell. Young’s speed and footy smarts are a perfect fit for the role left behind by Wellingham and Russell will be ready to prove his worth, probably having to compete with Marty Clarke for games. This reminds me of 2010, our premiership year where it every player was giving their all because they had to compete for their place in the team, because everyone was on fire. We had recruited Jolly and Luke Ball who at the time were the missing pieces to the Premiership puzzle and this is where I see the contrast to this year where since then Jolly’s form has dropped due to injury and Luke Ball was struck by injury, but this year had that 2010 beginning feeling about it again. The new players ready to take on the rucking, the fiery young draftees ready to prove their worth and compete for senior games, the replacement of Wellingham taken care of. I can feel it, its 2010 black and white Déjà vu and I can’t wait to see if im right!

 

 

 

About Danielle Eid

Im 23, cute and most importantly im the Collingwood Football Club's very own PRINCESS!! :) A Latrobe Uni graduate from Bachelor of Journalism. Admirer of Samantha Lane and Jon Ralph. Not your typical 'Robot Journalist' Loves Alex Fasolo

Comments

  1. Collingwood are a very good side with the best midfield in the comp – Swan, Pendlebury, Ball, Sidebottom and Beams – so I certainly expect them to be up there again. They play superbly as a team.

    But flipping the coin – here are 4 reasons why maybe they won’t

    1. The gloves that Cloke and Lynch are no longer allowed to wear, will the replacement gloves do the job or was it all psychological?

    2. Minor slip ups that happened last year need to be avoided – 4 players admitting to something that will no doubt be further investigated. To be fair, that sort of thing happens at all other clubs too but the spotlight is on the Lexus Centre at the moment.

    3. A defence that can be exposed for pace when structured one on one.
    A ruck division in transition with Jolly’s 31 year old knees deteriorating, Lynch is 30 and rarely played ruck in recent years while Hudson is about to turn 34. Grundy looks set to become a star (not only worthy of Presti’s jumper but also a little Macedonian Marvel who wore it in the 80’s) but apart from Naitanui very few 18 year olds are able to really show out as rucks much in their first year.

    4. Hawthorn…… The Pies have a better midfield but the Hawks are generally able to hold the Collingwood forwards, particularly with Lake also back there. Hawthorn averaged 20 goals a game against the Magpies in their 3 meetings last year, including 21 when Franklin was missing.

    I expect Collingwood to be right up there with Sydney, Geelong, Hawthorn, West Coast, Adelaide and Fremantle – they should finish top 4. They have recruited well and were the standout winners in the draft/trade period in my eyes.

    It should be a great and possibly more even season.

  2. Lord Bogan says

    We will definitely challenge Danni, but agree with aussie 80s regarding the defence and the ruck as we can be brutally exposed in these areas by the better teams. Our youngsters like Elliot, Sinclair and Fasolo also need to take their game to the next level. Twas depth that won us the 2010 flag and a lack of it that made us fall short in 2011-12.

  3. Hey Aussie80s.
    1- i don’t think the glove thing will be a big deal, many AFL power forwards better than Cloke and Lynch were able to kick a record number of goal and didn’t wear any gloves.

    2- i agree it happens at many clubs and i have confidence that Collingwood will be doing everything they can to ensure it doesn’t interfere with footy and keep the welfare of the players as no.1 priority.

    3&4- who knows, Lynch could be our next Leigh Brown.
    i agree but i think the defense coaches will try a different game plan this year that might work better for us, we may not end up being better than the Hawks defensively but there’s no reason we can’t match them.

  4. Lord Bogan- i agree in reference to Elliot, Sinclair, Fas and add Blair to that list.
    i feel like specifically Fas and Blair have lacked that spark they had when they first secured senior games and i think Nathan won’t hesitate to replace them with a young, ready to prove themselves debutant once in a while so they don’t feel too comfortable in keeping their place week to week.

  5. Danni – I can’t beleive you have Quinten Lynch down as a positive.

  6. Danni – you are a true romantic. Hope always springs eternal in the bosom of the true fan.
    Trust me – Quinten is a whole hearted tryer and very comparable to Dawes as both a forward and pinch hit ruckman. He is better around the ground than Leigh Brown but not as good as a ruckman. Quinten lays a lot of tackles and gets a lot of touches, but he blasts long to nobody most of the time.
    Not quite sure how the death of an ex-player after the season ended affected your 2012 performance.
    You will be tough to beat at the MCG again in 2013, as you were too good for us in the Semi last year – so we both have improving to do.

  7. Dave Nadel says

    I wish I wasn’t writing this directly after Peter B, but I am much more worried about West Coast as an impediment to a Collingwood premiership in 2013 than I am about Hawthorn. West Coast has long term injured players coming back, and Naitanui, Kennedy and Darling will only get better. I think Hawthorn will have a reaction to losing a flag that they were favoured to win. I think they are going to have a major distraction with Buddy (see Geelong and Ablett 2010, Collingwood and Cloke 2012) I also think Lake will be a disappointment. He was brilliant in 2010 but he has had injuries and form loss since.

    I take Peter’s point about Quinten Lynch but I don’t think that Buckley is relying on him as the new Leigh Brown. I suspect that Witts, Grundy and maybe even Gault will all get a few weeks experience as ruckman/forward. Lynch will play for the Pies but probably no more than 15 games per year. He doesn’t have to kick many goals to kick more than Chris Dawes did in the last two years. Young Jackson Paine is also in the mix..

    Like Danni I am also optimistic, mostly because we have Ball and Krakouer back. Also because we know have a back-up for Jolly (I am thinking Hudson rather than Lynch) and will never have to play Wood again. I am not saying that we WILL win a flag in 2013 but we might.

  8. Dips- where’s the bad?! :)

    Peter B-
    My mention of McCarthy is important in how we finished the season because his death occurred while we were playing finals footy. i think its important to see how Buckley and the Club were able to do their best to help the players who were going through an emotional time yet expected to perform and by some make it to grandfinal day. So overall i think the tragic loss of a teammate did infact effect our finals performance and with that in mind i believe the players did an outstanding job to get the result they did that year.

    Dave- You make very good points, i can also see Fremantle on the rise.
    Im not saying Bucks expects Lynch to be the new Leigh Brown, what i meant is that it would be great if he turned out that way :)
    Im really looking forward to seeing Grundy and Paine play.

  9. My apologies Danni. I forgot that the McCarthy death happened while the Pies were still in the finals.
    Mea culpa.

  10. Danielle, interesting piece and i’ll preface my comments by saying i am a Carlton supporter:
    1. No other club knows how to slaughter a GF quite like Collingwood. Think ’70, 77,79,80, even 2010 they nearly blew which resulted in a draw.
    2. Winning a GF against St.Kilda is like a Test batsman scoring a century against Bangledesh.
    3. Daisy Thomas is still in a moon boot. Crucial player and even the good one’s need a pre-season.
    4. Bucks has inherited a strong list with Micks fingerprints all over it. The Collinwood players loved playing for Malthouse; i don’t think Buckley will be able to get a passionate response quite like that. But good luck… We can only hope for another Carlton Collingwood GF!

  11. Sorry to start the new year on such a positive (for the proletariat) note Danni, but, the Pies have more chance of getting a player on the front of the 2013 Almanac than winning the flag this year.

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