Coach Craig McRae

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Derek Hine getting booted back from list manager to doing what he does best in recruiting certainly seems to have things looking better.

The midfielders will take a bit longer although Reef had a promising start on a flank, but the forwards look excellent.

Henry, McCreery and Ginnivan is a great draft and gives the Pies new energy which was badly needed.

They're missing Roughead or a different genuine full back to free up Moore but otherwise backline talent was never the issue.

The best thing about a coach making heavy (probably too heavy in terms of winning every game) midfield rotations is you don't have to be so concerned about how to manage the end of Pendles' career, Sidebottom possibly declining (has been great this year), getting some games in to young mids and so on.

They can both base a midfield around De Goey, N Daicos, Adams, Lipinski and Crisp, but at the same time make sure the young and old guys are going through there.
 
Chief Ten Beers said:
8 to 4 players less than 50 games actually. No prizes for which is which.
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If it makes you feel better pretending guys like Noble, Madgen and Cameron are kids go ahead. But it says a lot that Collingwood fans are trying to delude themselves into thinking they're rebuilding while picking only 5 players under 25 and under 50 games.

And lol at thinking because you played 1-2 more kids than the oldest team in history that means you're in a rebuild.
 

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Footy Smarts said:
If it makes you feel better pretending guys like Noble, Madgen and Cameron are kids go ahead. But it says a lot that Collingwood fans are trying to delude themselves into thinking they're rebuilding while picking only 5 players under 25 and under 50 games.

And lol at thinking because you played 1-2 more kids than the oldest team in history that means you're in a rebuild.
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I think it's overstated that we're young, albeit it's always nice to have an injection of youth which had been lacking greatly prior to 2021.

Last week we fielded the 4th oldest team in the competition behind only Geelong, Brisbane and Richmond.

However, most of our supporters did anticipate a rebuilding year prior to the start of the season.
 
PonsfordMagpie said:
I think it's overstated that we're young, albeit it's always nice to have an injection of youth which had been lacking greatly prior to 2021.

Last week we fielded the 4th oldest team in the competition behind only Geelong, Brisbane and Richmond.

However, most of our supporters did anticipate a rebuilding year prior to the start of the season.
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Yeah that makes sense. I had to do a bit of a double take at how strong your team was at full strength.

This isn't to knock McRae who's done a good job bringing in a new system but the expectations around Collingwood seem to be way too low. This isn't a young team in a rebuild it's a mature team that had a terrible year with form and fitness. A decent run with injury and pushing for the 8 should be the expectation for a team jammed with 26-29 year olds and a few high quality 30+ players. If a few of your kids really step up pushing top 4 isn't out of the question.
 
When looking at our list, it's not so much who we're playing now, it's who we're going to have to blood over the next two seasons and how the list is going to evolve that has us bracing fora couple more years of pain.

So when we see new names like Nick Daicos, McInnes, McCreery, Ginnivan, Krueger, Lipinski and Henry start to become contributors at senior level for us, some others really showing something at VFL level and a stalwart like Pendlebury plays more off the back half than as a pure mid, PLUS a new and exciting brand of footy... you can't blame us for being a little optimistic.

It's still going to suck for a long time, but there are good signs.
 
adammania9 said:
Replace dud squad players Madgen and Hoskin-Elliott with genuine young players with potential, and we’ll be in a good spot youth-wise. The current group of kids getting a run are impressive, but we need a couple more getting games too
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Thought WHE was ok on Saturday night, feel bad for Madgen who is a VFL level footballer who seems to get a game because you have no better options.

What do you think of Sidebottom's year to date? I thought he was totally cooked last year but has surprised me in the first few games, I've seen all three of your games and would have him in your best half dozen in each.
 
Collingwood is a key forward away from being a genuinely decent team, IMO their last couple of down years have been more about injuries than anything else. I don't think McCrae has overachieved in his first three games, I think it's just the squad living up to where they should have been in 2020-21. Don't forget, last year despite the injuries and coaching uncertainty, they beat Melbourne and got within 10 points of Geelong and 16 points of the Bulldogs.

Seems they tried and failed to land Tom Lynch and Jeremy Cameron, and Daniher was always leaving Victoria. I'm really surprised they didn't go hard for Ben Brown though, he went for bargain price in the end and was one of the pieces of the puzzle for the Demons last year. Tom McDonald was seemingly halfway out the door at the end of 2020 as well, could see him being a 30-40 goal a year player at the Pies.

Even a Casboult type would take the best KPD, give Mihocek some space and be beneficial for their small forwards. Just strange they haven't headed down a path like that.
 
fpm84 said:
Collingwood is a key forward away from being a genuinely decent team, IMO their last couple of down years have been more about injuries than anything else. I don't think McCrae has overachieved in his first three games, I think it's just the squad living up to where they should have been in 2020-21. Don't forget, last year despite the injuries and coaching uncertainty, they beat Melbourne and got within 10 points of Geelong and 16 points of the Bulldogs.

Seems they tried and failed to land Tom Lynch and Jeremy Cameron, and Daniher was always leaving Victoria. I'm really surprised they didn't go hard for Ben Brown though, he went for bargain price in the end and was one of the pieces of the puzzle for the Demons last year. Tom McDonald was seemingly halfway out the door at the end of 2020 as well, could see him being a 30-40 goal a year player at the Pies.

Even a Casboult type would take the best KPD, give Mihocek some space and be beneficial for their small forwards. Just strange they haven't headed down a path like that.
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great comment ,well done
 
fpm84 said:
Thought WHE was ok on Saturday night, feel bad for Madgen who is a VFL level footballer who seems to get a game because you have no better options.

What do you think of Sidebottom's year to date? I thought he was totally cooked last year but has surprised me in the first few games, I've seen all three of your games and would have him in your best half dozen in each.
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That’s all Hoskin-Elliott is, just ok on his best days. At 29 years old he is only going to get worse. He should’ve been traded last year. I actually like Madgen and also feel bad for him being played in a role that is probably asking too much of his ability, but nevertheless he turns 29 this month and is our weakest link. Shouldn’t be playing if we’re going to call ourselves a rebuilding side. Hopefully Charlie Dean is the answer for us when he gets fit and he can be a long-term defender.

Sidebottom after playing some disgusting football last year has been a real breath of fresh air. Playing back in his natural wing position and isn’t getting as much pill as before, but appears to be making much better decisions when he does have it. All 3 of his games have been solid 7/10’s in my book. I think all of our wingers are playing really well and have adjusted well to our new style of footy - Sidebottom, Josh Daicos and Noble are all playing better footy than they were last year
 

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Elmer_Judd said:
Jinx thread or not, he is still a fantastic appointment by the Pies, got the hapless and covid struck Eagles this week, so will likely start the season 3-1.

Not bad for a team widely predicted to win the Spoon or finish bottom 4.
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Can you keep your suspicious praise until after the game this week Elmer?
 
fpm84 said:
Seems they tried and failed to land Tom Lynch and Jeremy Cameron, and Daniher was always leaving Victoria. I'm really surprised they didn't go hard for Ben Brown though, he went for bargain price in the end and was one of the pieces of the puzzle for the Demons last year. Tom McDonald was seemingly halfway out the door at the end of 2020 as well, could see him being a 30-40 goal a year player at the Pies.
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Excellent post.

The reason we didn’t go for Brown was due to our tight salary cap, which hit its peak at the end of 2020 when we offloaded Treloar, Stephenson and Phillips.

Brown would have been a great option, but we couldn’t afford him.
 
PonsfordMagpie said:
Excellent post.

The reason we didn’t go for Brown was due to our tight salary cap, which hit its peak at the end of 2020 when we offloaded Treloar, Stephenson and Phillips.

Brown would have been a great option, but we couldn’t afford him.
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2 metre Peter would have been a cheap option, unfortunately we could only afford 120cm of him
 
I thought the other night another decent mobile key back/medium sized defender would have made a difference for us, rather than a key forward.
If we are going to play so gung ho, you need good defenders to hold the fort. Hopefully Charlie Dean makes the grade.
 
Footy Smarts said:
Yeah that makes sense. I had to do a bit of a double take at how strong your team was at full strength.

This isn't to knock McRae who's done a good job bringing in a new system but the expectations around Collingwood seem to be way too low. This isn't a young team in a rebuild it's a mature team that had a terrible year with form and fitness. A decent run with injury and pushing for the 8 should be the expectation for a team jammed with 26-29 year olds and a few high quality 30+ players. If a few of your kids really step up pushing top 4 isn't out of the question.
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The thought for some on our board pre season was we would see a bump up based on a better output in the older part of our list compared to 2021. Our big problem lay in the younger part of the list and it will be how that goes that determines what happens over the next few seasons. I was expecting bottom 4 this year and while that may still happen we will probably end more 10-14. We are pretty injury free so far but if some of the good older players go down or struggle later in the season.

I cant see finals in 22 and top 4 is a pipedream. We are in a rebuild and it will be a difficult one as our list in unbalanced with a big hole in the 21-25 age group.
 
Gone Critical said:
The thought for some on our board pre season was we would see a bump up based on a better output in the older part of our list compared to 2021. Our big problem lay in the younger part of the list and it will be how that goes that determines what happens over the next few seasons. I was expecting bottom 4 this year and while that may still happen we will probably end more 10-14. We are pretty injury free so far but if some of the good older players go down or struggle later in the season.

I cant see finals in 22 and top 4 is a pipedream. We are in a rebuild and it will be a difficult one as our list in unbalanced with a big hole in the 21-25 age group.
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Agree re the hole in the 21-25 age group, but feel we’ve gone a long way to rectifying it with recent recruits. players in that age range that either project as or are already clear cut best 22 include: Krueger, LipinskI, Johnson, J Daicos, Noble, Quaynor, Dean. Many of whom are very recent recruits. (There’s also the Brown bros, Kelly, Bianco and Wilson who I’m less bullish on). So it’s an area we’ve clearly identified, and with a few more astute pickups in this age range in the upcoming drafts/trading in from other teams we’ll be fine.

Would be great if we could sneak in an extra 1-2 potential A-graders in that age range, as right now it’s only Daicos and Quaynor who clearly have that potential. If one or two of the others can get to that level then we’re already looking okay.
 
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PonsfordMagpie said:
I think it's overstated that we're young, albeit it's always nice to have an injection of youth which had been lacking greatly prior to 2021.

Last week we fielded the 4th oldest team in the competition behind only Geelong, Brisbane and Richmond.

However, most of our supporters did anticipate a rebuilding year prior to the start of the season.
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"averages' are very misleading. Median age or games played is probably a better measure when determining experience.
I suspect if Kreuger and McCreery weren't injured last week, they would have played.

7 players under 50 games. (4 of which had under 15 games, 3 of those under 10 games). It was a big effort against a seasoned team who are physically very strong.

I think it was a lesson for Macrae. The coaching box could have made a few adjustments in the final quarter and been more defensive.
 
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