Collingwood have plenty of fight left in them yet
Columnist By Michael Filosi, 3 Oct 2011 Michael Filosi is a Roar Expert
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- AFL, AFL grand final, Collingwood, Geelong Cats, Hawthorn, Mick Malthouse, West Coast
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Collingwood Captain Nick Maxwell is consoled by Assistant Coach Nathan Buckley after the AFL 2011 Toyota Grand Final match between the Collingwood Magpies and the Geelong Cats at the MCG, Melbourne. Slattery Images
In a season that the AFL chose ‘Greatness’ as its one-word promotional theme for the finals, it was fitting that the Geelong Cats confirmed their greatness by securing the 2011 Premiership in a match befitting the hype that surrounded it.
The Cats – like Serena Williams at the Australian Open – seem to favour winning the big one in odd years, and can now add the 2011 Premiership Cup to those won in seasons 2007 and 2009.
While those celebrating the Cats’ victory would not yet be ready to acknowledge as much, it cannot be long before father time finally catches up with Geelong’s ageing stars and the club begins to lose ground to the competition’s up-and-comers.
Yes, it is true, this is the same thing many pundits predicted at the same time last year after Geelong was thumped by Collingwood in a Preliminary Final.
While the Cats were able to rouse themselves this season and secure the ultimate prize, this is not a side at the peak of its powers.
The Cats may challenge again in season 2012, but next year will surely be the club’s last chance to achieve premiership success with this group of players.
The Magpies, on the other hand, are a different story.
Collingwood will rue a missed opportunity in finishing runner-up this year. Just over a month ago, many were wondering if 2011 would prove to be most dominant season by any side in VFL/AFL history, with the Magpies having lost only one match for the season and holding the best percentage of any team in history.
Then came a crushing loss to Geelong in the final round of the home-and-away season, and two sketchy wins over West Coast and Hawthorn leading into the Grand Final.
Collingwood’s 2011 season, when it dominated most of the year, only to lose the Grand Final, bears similarities to Geelong’s 2008 season, when it lost a single match in the home-and-away season before losing to Hawthorn in the Grand Final that year.
Geelong went on to win two of the next three premierships after the disappointment of 2008. Time will tell if Collingwood can do similarly, but there is no reason to think the Magpies are not capable of continued success for some time yet.
While Geelong is unquestionably a team closer to the end of its glory years than the beginning, the Magpies have a host of young players, who should ensure they feature at the top end of the ladder for many years to come.
Magpies stars Travis Cloke (24 years old), Scott Pendlebury (23), Dale Thomas (24), Harry O’Brien (24), Chris Dawes (23) and Ben Reid (22) should form the core group of players around which the Magpies can achieve continued success in the next five years.
Two big questions remain after the final siren had sounded on AFL Grand Final 2011.
What effect did the round 24 thrashing that the Cats dished out to the Magpies have on the finals campaign of both sides?
Ahead of that game, I wrote that the Cats desperately needed a victory, coming off the back of a loss to Sydney and a narrow win against Adelaide. The Magpies, at that point, had nothing riding on the result.
History shows the Cats thumped the Magpies in that match, and from that point on, Collingwood seemed to have lost its air of invincibility, while Geelong’s confidence only grew.
The Magpies had narrow and unspectacular victories over the Eagles and Hawks in the lead-up to the Grand Final, whereas the Cats accounted for both these sides with much greater ease.
Did the match to finish the home-and-away season – that was said to mean nothing – ultimately define the finals? That match seemed to be the tipping point where Collingwood lost its self-belief and likewise, gave the Cats the confidence they needed to win the flag in 2011.
The second question that lingers is whether Mick Malthouse’s imminent departure from the club had an adverse effect on the players and coaching staff ahead of the Grand Final?
Much was made of Malthouse’s emotional display after the narrow Preliminary Final victory against the Hawks, and so much of Grand Final week seemed to centre on the Mick Malthouse show.
Four-time premiership coach Leigh Matthews, commented on Channel Seven’s AFL Game Day program yesterday that anything which caused that much of a distraction can never be good for a side, leading into such an important match.
In any event, to the victor go the spoils, and the Geelong club song is fitting. The Cats proved to be the greatest team of all in season 2011.
See you next year.
Twitter @MichaelFilosi
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The Crowd Says (28) | Page 1 of Comments
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October 3rd 2011 @ 8:42am
john a said | October 3rd 2011 @ 8:42am | Report comment
Time for the Pies to change captain perhaps? Pendles?
October 3rd 2011 @ 1:05pm
Macca said | October 3rd 2011 @ 1:05pm | Report comment
I would of thought given I don’t think he will find a place in their backline when Nathan Brown comes back.
October 3rd 2011 @ 9:33am
Macca said | October 3rd 2011 @ 9:33am | Report comment
The difference between the Pies this year and the Cats in 08 is that this year the Pies were beatne 3 times by Geelong by a total margin of about 140 points and both teams ended the year with 3 losses. Very differnet from 08.
As for Collingwood future, they will lose L Brown out of that side, Davis is talking retirement and struggled agian in key games against the Hawks and Geelong, Jolly’s knee seems to be a big problem & Didak wasn’t the same player this year with retirement a possiblity for both. Dawes is over rated and Blair hasn’t kicked a goal in weeks meaning Collingwoods forward line has become very one dimensional.
Tarrant is 31 & Ben Johnson will be 31 early next season.
The other issue is where does Maxwell play when Nathan Brown comes back
October 3rd 2011 @ 10:18am
stabpass said | October 3rd 2011 @ 10:18am | Report comment
Very hard to win 2 in a row, Collingwood will be up there again, if they time there run properly, have some luck, there is no reason they will not win the flag next year.
You lose players, but you gain some, and by all accounts, there are some very good young players coming through.
Collingwood needed more run, but taking potential match winner Didak off, was not really a option, i am suprised that Blair did not play better, it was his sort of game.
I dont believe that Dawes is overrated, but a bit out of form, 10 min from H/T it looked like Collingwood was going to run all over them, but Geelong fought back against the odds.
IMO Collingwood has more chance than Geelong of winning the flag next year.
October 3rd 2011 @ 10:34am
Macca said | October 3rd 2011 @ 10:34am | Report comment
Dawes kicked 28 goals this year from 18 games in a side that only lost 3 times, hardly the stat of a dominant forwrd who has the luxury of getting the second best defender each week. He is young which is his saving grace but I’d take Hawkins or Walker before I’d have Dawes.
I am not saying they won’t be around the mark next year just that it isn’t the start of a dynasty. If Hawthorn has a better run with injuries the will be a better team next year, the Blues were the youngest and least experienced of the top 8 sides this year and will improve again next year with Kreuzer getting a full preseason, Warnock building up, Waite hopefully fit and if one of Hampson, Casboult of Mitchell can take that next step as a key forward they could be dangerous and if the Wes Coast old blokes can have another good year their young fellas will come along that bit further. Plus there is always one team that suprises.
October 3rd 2011 @ 10:52am
stabpass said | October 3rd 2011 @ 10:52am | Report comment
Wouldn’t happen to be a Blues fan would we??.
Collingwood/Carlton GF ?.
West Coast IMO will struggle, count out Embley, his legs are shot, and if you saw Cox getting rubbed down, well, if he was a horse, he actually should be put down !.
Hawthorn, i am not convinced about, stole the flag from a selfish Geelong a couple of years ago, but have a angry little man as coach, who gees the troops up.
Dark horse ……. lets see….Freo, with the insomnia curing St Kilda game plan.
October 3rd 2011 @ 11:01am
Macca said | October 3rd 2011 @ 11:01am | Report comment
Yeah I am a blues fan but they are putting things together to be a real threat in the next 4 years.
Put Roughhead and Gilham back into that Hawks side and they will be much better than this year and they only missed out on the GF by a couple of minutes.
West Coast are an interesting one, it was thier old blokes who got them to where they did this year but Natanui, Darling and Kennedy will all be better again next year but I take your point, if Cox, Embley and Kerr struggle with age and injury the eagles might tread water.
October 3rd 2011 @ 11:54am
Richard said | October 3rd 2011 @ 11:54am | Report comment
The team that surprises in 2012? I’m tipping Melbourne under Mark Neeld. Don’t be surprised if Mick Malthouse helps from the background.
October 3rd 2011 @ 10:16am
Brendan said | October 3rd 2011 @ 10:16am | Report comment
Collingwood kept the big three on there list (Swan,Pendlebury and Thomas) while you cant argue with the logic of that, the impact on player payments may be a factor next year.Will they have to shed young talent to accomodate the players payments.My reservation with Collingwood is that there top 10 or so players are fantastic but the rest are young or nearing the end of there careers.In the second half on Saturday they only kicked two legitimate goals and i know they were tired and not fully fit but to talk them up for next year is a big call (Hawthorn should have beat them in the prelim).They need to find a taller half forward to help Cloke but that will be hard in this years draft.
October 3rd 2011 @ 10:34am
Macca said | October 3rd 2011 @ 10:34am | Report comment
Brendan, remember too that Pendlebury only signed for 1 year so he could still go to GWS (or at least milk more money from the Pies)
October 3rd 2011 @ 12:42pm
Brendan said | October 3rd 2011 @ 12:42pm | Report comment
Didn’t know that Macca .Strange terms for a contract of arguably there best player.
October 3rd 2011 @ 1:03pm
Macca said | October 3rd 2011 @ 1:03pm | Report comment
That’s all Pendlebury would sign. As I said he wanted to keep GWS in play and I think was hoping that he would win a few awards to make his negotiating point stronger.
October 3rd 2011 @ 7:41pm
Richard said | October 3rd 2011 @ 7:41pm | Report comment
Scotty Pendlebury is not interested in GWS. He is waiting to see what the settlement is from the AFLPA negotiations and hoping to get a larger slice of the increased player payments funding which will become available. Pendlebury wants to be well paid and he will be but he also wants a premiership. He’ll get that with Collingwood. He’ll be ok for the ‘Pies. Neon Leon will also stay IMO, although I’d be ok if he was to go to Freo for a decent draft pick. Freo have been good to CFC over the years. Looking good for next year the ‘Pies. No Mick, but Bucks with a Rocket.
October 3rd 2011 @ 10:44am
Richard said | October 3rd 2011 @ 10:44am | Report comment
Geelong were angry, and hungry, after the ill-handled Bomber Thompson departure last year. The 2011 Premiership win shows us all that Thompson was not the cause of their success, but a beneficiary of it. It returns those two earlier Premierships to the club by confirming the talent, strength and depth of tradition at the club. So I’m pleased for Geelong. They deserve their claim to Greatness and are entitled to enjoy it, free of the bad smell left by Thompson. They are an outstanding team who will now be celebrated into posterity, like Collingwood of the ’20s and’30s, Melbourne of the ’50s, Hawthorn of the ’80s and Brisbane of the early ’00s.
But dammit I’m hurting for the ‘Pies right now. A great season when they played some great football. A back to back premiership would have been fitting reward, but you’ve got to win that on the day boys. Next year will be tough. A resurgent Carlton can’t be allowed to succeed, Hawthorn will be even better, Fremantle will be right there next year. West Coast will get even better. So I hope you boys are angry right now. There is unfinished business. First stop. Beat Geelong!
October 3rd 2011 @ 11:04am
stabpass said | October 3rd 2011 @ 11:04am | Report comment
A strong arrogant Carlton makes me ill !!.
Recently i found another reason to dislike Carlton, and although it’s clutching at straws a bit, it works for me, on a matter of fact sort of level, one of the clubs founders in 1864, the renowned hanging judge Redmond Barry, was the man who sentenced Ned Kelly to death.
A orangeman from Ireland, wonder what Redmond would make of Zac Tuohy’s game a couple of weeks ago, all pretty harmeless sort of stuff these days, but not so back then.
October 3rd 2011 @ 11:09am
Macca said | October 3rd 2011 @ 11:09am | Report comment
You might want ot see a doctor then Stabby because you could be in for a rough few years.
On Tuohy, look for him to cement his spot in the side next year making it more likely Jordan Russel could be trade bait.
October 3rd 2011 @ 11:27am
stabpass said | October 3rd 2011 @ 11:27am | Report comment
So are you saying, that there is no cure available for the next few years, i hope you are wrong, and i may seek a second opinion on that !!.
October 3rd 2011 @ 11:35am
Macca said | October 3rd 2011 @ 11:35am | Report comment
The Blues premiership window is just starting, they solved their defensive problems this year, have what will become one of the best ruck combinations going around and a midfield that is now adding depth to it’s class. A key forward who can clunk contested grabs is the only missing piece and if the can get one of the previously mentioned trio or snare one through the draft or trade this year look out.
October 3rd 2011 @ 12:37pm
Brendan said | October 3rd 2011 @ 12:37pm | Report comment
Richard you truly are a gracious Collingwood supporter .In terms of Thompson he may be the luckiest coach of all time.This Geelong side won seven in a row in 02 and reached the 04 prelim so Thompson had the talent to work with and IMO went along for the ride. All the best for next year win lose or draw Collingwood will always be a great club.
October 3rd 2011 @ 7:36pm
Richard said | October 3rd 2011 @ 7:36pm | Report comment
Well said Brendan. Thank you.
October 4th 2011 @ 1:48am
Stumpy said | October 4th 2011 @ 1:48am | Report comment
Brendan and Richard what a load of crap,
Scott acknowledged that the making of this playing group owed itself to the toughness of Thompson and other coaching staff. In particular the preseason of 02. Every player that comes into Geelong is now measured against and to that standard as it has evolved to present day.
Fine you don’t like Thompson but he. his assistants, list management and the players made what the club is at present.
It fractured at the end of last season and Scott was the perfect glue to put it all back together, his approach was to fit in with the Geelong way and help it evolve rather then drastically change everything.
Scott did a great job this year but he knows he walked into a great system and he acknowledges it and those that helped create it, so should everyone else.
October 4th 2011 @ 10:01am
Brendan said | October 4th 2011 @ 10:01am | Report comment
Stumpy,Thompson may have been a great conditioner or manager of players but even he said these guys coach themselves.He didnt have a plan b against Hawthorn in 08 and didnt play Menzel or Duncan in last years final series.As a Geelong supporter i am vey happy but wonder whether Thompson could have done better with the list he inherited.Look at the 01 draft Bartel , Kelly ,Johnson and Gary Ablett jnr.Steven Wells who recruited these players (I acknowledge Ablett as father son) deserves more credit .As another example of his recruiting look at these Rookies he recruited in 06 Mumford,Laidler and Moles.
October 4th 2011 @ 3:45pm
Richard said | October 4th 2011 @ 3:45pm | Report comment
I think you’ve missed the point. When Bomber Thompson abandoned his commitments and departed GFC with less than complete honesty, he effectively rejected the club and its players. As a consequence he took with him part of the emotional ownership of the clubs success, the part which could not be shared as it should have been shared, among people who have mutual respect and regard for each other. That I suspect left a very empty feeling at Geelong.
No-one is saying that Thompson didn’t contribute, of course he contributed. However the win on Saturday proves that the success at Kardinia Park belongs 100% to the club, not to an individual, not even Thompson, and it means that not only can GFC enjoy this year’s success to the full, but emotionally they have regained all the ownership of the previous success. Now, rather than being central to the success, Thompson is marginal to it.
I’m talking about the way the players and the club now “feel” about their success, and now its a much better feeling down the highway I’m certain. GFC deserves the completeness of its heritage, it now owes nothing to Thompson, and it is up to him if he wants to re-join his past team-mates. They have now proven (to themselves) that they are a success without him. No-one should under-estimate the emphatic statement Geelong made last weekend in that regard, or the ensuing motivation they had all year to make that statement.
Thompson is a mixed blessing for Essendon. What he brings to EFC in experience and technical ability, he takes away in moral leadership. If I were them I’d get rid of him, but I hope they don’t. While ever he’s around at Windy Hill (or wherever they will be), the smell will be there with him.
October 4th 2011 @ 11:48am
Bayman said | October 4th 2011 @ 11:48am | Report comment
Geelong have proved to be a great football team and fully deserved their victory. They covered the loss of Ablett better than many of us could have imagined and the emergence of Christensen, Menzel, Duncan have, if anything, made them stronger.
The real killer blow in the last month or so has been the arrival, finally, of Tom Hawkins. He was sensational in the GF and is at last making full use of his immense physical attributes. This final series will be the making of him. I had him out of the team earlier in the season and now he’s (almost) the first one picked. A couple more GF goals, instead of those misses, and he may have won the Norm Smith Medal.
I suspect the window is still open for Geelong and may be a for a couple of years. There’s some talent there that watched Saturday’s game from the grandstand so I reckon the Cats will be ok for a little while yet.
The Magpies, meanwhile, are still a very good side. Three goals up just before half time and looking good. Had they maintained that lead to the half, who knows, but the Cats lifted and at the break were probably feeling a lot more confident than five minutes previously. Footy’s a funny game and once Geelong got a sniff they never really let the Magpies back in.
Collingwood clearly had some distractions leading up the game. Injuries, Mick’s pending departure and a lack of form of some key players must have impacted on the club.
I’m not sure Eddie’s succession plan was such a good idea, especially announcing it two years ago then watching Malthouse claim the flag. It probably seemed a good idea at the time. It also meant a successful coach was being punted just to keep a favourite son. Mick never seemed to fully embrace the idea and his departure, completely, is totally reasonable and probably expected. Eddie is still trying to justify it – Mick was burnt out – but nobody really believes him. They see his comments for what they are – attempted justification. Mick certainly does not agree with Eddie and I don’t think anybody else does either.
Nathan Brown will be a good “in” for Collingwood next year but Leigh Brown might be missed more than some think. He applied fantastic pressure to keep the ball in the forward lines and somebody will have to step up next year to replicate some of that. Davis may be gone, Jolly is getting older and Didak had a year to forget while some others showed they were good players but not great players.
The Magpies will be around the place next year but it remains to be seen if Eddie’s vision of a Buckley dynasty comes to fruition. Buckley will be under normous pressure next year to right the wrongs of this season but as the last month has shown there’s only one month, and one match, that really count.
Then there’s Hawthorn. If they get Gunston, and Roughead comes back healthy, then the Hawks may cause some angst among the contenders. Can’t wait for next year.
October 4th 2011 @ 12:11pm
Stumpy said | October 4th 2011 @ 12:11pm | Report comment
Brendan
I fear you are blind, and the context of the team coaching themselves was after years of in ground work and gameplan they all understood what was needed and did it.
As per having no plan B that wasn’t just the coaches flaw it was also a failure of the players wanting to adjust to a more kick to mark style of play which they now have adopted, this has been discussed by Thompson in the media before.
You think that Geelongs game plan against StKilda was the same as they played for most of the year, if you do you are blind and it all changed at the end of the first quarter, had it not changed they would have lost that final.
The team needed to adjust to a new style Thompson knew they weren’t hearing the new message from him, so he left. The right thing to do but not the right way to go about it.
Having a new voice from Scott tell them the home truths about their games style made the team this year, but you would be a fool if you think the base of everything this team has achieved wasn’t owed to Thompson and the coaching staff from the last 8 years.
Scott could of ended up with the Power job this year rather the Geelong how’d you think that would have panned out?
He knows how fortunate he was to end up at Geelong and Geelong was truly fortunate to have a 3 time premiership player end up as their coach because his voice had cred and he understands the group dynamic of being in a champion team..
You may support Geelong but you disrespect everything that has helped make them the great team that they are.
Get over your bitterness of Thompson leaving he did the right thing by Geelong he could have easily stayed and collected a fatcheck waited till he got a new set of ears to hear a new message, but if he’d done that you wouldn’t have your third CUP today.
October 4th 2011 @ 3:04pm
Brendan said | October 4th 2011 @ 3:04pm | Report comment
i am not bitter about Thompson leaving and i take umbrage that you state i dis respect everything that has helped make them great.IMO Thompson may have been in the right place at the right time.Other publications have questioned whether he could have got more out of this group of players.Just because you use inflammatory language it doesnt mean you are correct just like me you can only offer an opinion.Everyone deduces Thompson and Ablett leaving was the catalyst to this years flag but the young talent (which Thompson had at his disposal last year and didnt use)played a large part and to undersell Christensen particularly,Duncan, Menzel and Vardy doesnt do justice to there contribution this year.Anyway think what you like but dont tell me how i think.GO CATS.
October 4th 2011 @ 1:36pm
BigAl said | October 4th 2011 @ 1:36pm | Report comment
I’m a bit puzzled by Collingwood appointing Eade ?
Sure he’s a great asset to most clubs, but Buckley could be excused for being a bit ‘…peeved’ – having served an apprenticeship under Malthouse, then to have him conclusively off his back, only to find that someone else has been appointed to …watch over his shoulder ?
Maybe this is some sort of new trend – a la Thompson at Essendon, but I’m still far from convinced that that’s going to work !
October 4th 2011 @ 3:44pm
Richard said | October 4th 2011 @ 3:44pm | Report comment