Collingwood
Coach – Craig McRae
2022 –
Points For – 9th
Points Against – 8th
Top 5 Best and Fairest
1 – Jack Crisp
2 – Scott Pendlebury
3 – Darcy Moore
4 – Jeremy Howe
5 – Steele Sidebottom
2022 Rising Star Noms
Nick Daicos (Round 3)
Jack Ginnivan (Round 6)
Ins – Tom Mitchell, Dan McStay, Bobby Hill, Billy Frampton, Ed Allan, Jakob Ryan, Joe Richards
Outs – Brodie Grundy, Ollie Henry, Jordan Roughead, Callum Brown, Tyler Brown, Isaac Chugg, Liam McMahon, Jack Madgen, Caleb Poulter
My Prediction
If Essendon’s performance last year was disappointing (and it was), it was made even more so by Collingwood being so competitive. They had almost everything go right for them last year though with a soft draw and winning so many of their close matches, yet they were also pretty close to a grand final berth and would certainly have given Geelong more competition than the Swans. There are still significant question marks over whether they can do it again.
The backline is bog average. Darcy Moore is a star, this year he is also the captain and still playing with a body made of tissue paper. Howe himself is injury prone, they rely on Maynard who just keeps getting better. Run from Nick Daicos and Quaynor as well as P{endebury who will spend more time on the half back flank.
The midfield is their strongest area. They are still largely no thrills. They will be looking for De Goey to spend more time in the middle and will be bolstered by thee slow feet and quick hands of Tom Mitchell. Taylor Adams is still close to their most important player. Sidebottom and Crisp have also been good although there are signs that Sidebottom is losing some of his running. All in all it is a very effective, disciplined midfield.
The forward line is shocking for a top four team. Adding McStay does little to change my opinion, he is a plodder. Mihocek is a gun for a third tall but they have plenty of third talls. Cox is probably their only true tall and he is still useless despite playing two or three very good games annually. Cameron is a promising forward but they have sold Grundy to Melbourne for a bag of beans and now need him in the ruck. Ginnivan was very effective before he got the Tippa treatment and became invisible to the umpires. Elliott is still an excellent forward but just as likely to get injured and go missing for months.
The ruck situation is dire. You are looking at Cameron and Cox. They have gone from having Grundy as a generational talent in the ruck to deciding he was surplus to needs. Feels like a mistake but I guess paying him such a large percentage of your salary cap was also a mistake that needed fixed. The coach couldn’t have done much more with what he had last year, he has very good assistants and all the players pulling in the same direction.
Not an easy team to predict this year, they need growth from their youth this year. The fact is their veterans dragged them across the line last year. I feel last year was as good as they could do with the list they have. With the harder draw this year and probably a shallower list than the year before I think they will drop slightly. 6-8 for mine.
