In what has become something of an annual tradition, Collingwood failed to deliver on their offseason promise, finishing 13th and missing finals for the fourth straight season.
Nathan Buckley was astonishingly handed a two-year contract extension, will he finally turn his team around the corner or will their much publicised season-on-season slide continue?
What I predicted
“[Collingwood’s] glaring positional weaknesses are still just as prevalent as ever, leaving the Pies with too many question marks at the ends of the ground to make them candidates for a rise up the ladder.”
Prediction: 13th
What actually happened
More or less that.
Like the season before, Collingwood’s chances of featuring in September were virtually dashed after six losses in their first eight games.
A stirring win over Hawthorn sparked a mini-revival, but after hitting the halfway point at 5-6, the Magpies lost four in a row – all at the MCG – to put their finals hopes on the thinnest of ice.
They stayed in the hunt with three wins and a draw in their next four matches, but two losses after that sealed their fate for 2017.
Collingwood actually finished with a slightly better record than 2016, going 9-1-12 compared to 9-13, but fell one spot on the ladder to continue the infamous Buckley slide.
The club’s questionable trade period activity proved to be a fizzer, with injury-prone Daniel Wells missing several games through injury and veteran key forward Travis Cloke/Chris Mayne proving to be nowhere near worth the price paid.
While Mayne, despite his contract, is not Collingwood’s long-term solution inside 50, he was the most high-profile failure in the club’s quest to find a partner for Darcy Moore up forward.
Neither retiring Jesse White nor American import Mason Cox proved effective either, resulting in a frustrating year for the club’s forward of the future.
Down back, the Magpies were simply too easy to score on in 2017.
Despite the club conceding just 50.3 inside 50s a game – the fourth-best mark in the competition – they only managed a competition-worst 32.4 rebound 50s.
The Pies gave up 13.1 marks inside 50 a game which, compared to their inside 50 conceded count, was proportionately very high.
Best win
Round 9: Collingwood 13.12 (90) def. Hawthorn 11.6 (72)
With the Magpies hanging on by the skin of their teeth to some already slim finals chances, things looked especially grim when the then-hapless Hawks shot out to a 36-point quarter time lead.
But after heading into half time with a still imposing 34-point deficit, Collingwood dug deeper than many thought possible, slamming on nine goals to one in a scintillating second half performance.
The 18-point win reignited their season and restored a sense of self-belief in the playing group after the first eight weeks threatened to snuff it out.
[latest_videos_strip category=”afl” name=”AFL”]
Worst loss
Round 7: Collingwood 8.8 (56) def. by Carlton 12.7 (79)
Losses to your arch-rival are always especially painful, but when they land a body blow to your prospects for the season they’re excruciating.
Just one week after a rousing 29-point win over Geelong looked to have the black and white army back on the march, the Blues brought them back to earth with an almighty thud.
The Pies looked dreadful from the opening bounce, trailing at every change and eventually succumbing to their cellar-dwelling nemeses by 23 points.
What needs to happen next year?
As simple as it sounds, Collingwood need vastly superior results next season.
Eddie McGuire said himself the easiest thing to do would have been to sack the coach, but after six consecutive seasons – yes six – of worsening results, the Magpies must slingshot up the ladder to make continuing Buckley’s tenure worthwhile.
More importantly perhaps, is the leash on Buckley as he enters the third supposedly make-or-break season of his career in a row.
If the results aren’t stacking up, the Collingwood board need to have the guts to actually stand up and enact the fresh change the club so desperately needs.
Early prediction
Collingwood have fooled many a pundit throughout the Buckley era, but at the end of the day they’ve simply fallen further from the top year after year.
Barring some trade period wizardry or several breakout seasons from young superstars, there’s no reason to believe the Magpies won’t keep falling.
Prediction: 15th-18th
Eddie McGuire's latest bold idea has dropped - for North Melbourne to take over the outskirts of Melbourne and use it to rejuvenate the…
Pendles wasn't expecting that!
Diplomatically answered, Darcy!
For all the pomp and circumstance that surrounds the now-traditional Anzac Day clash at the MCG, there has been one thing conspicuously lacking over…
