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Now here’s something you never thought you would hear a Collingwood player say.
“Maybe we should play more interstate games,” Magpies forward Alan Didak said after starring in their 23-point win over Sydney at ANZ Stadium on Saturday night.
A final quarter surge in which they kicked 4.2 to 0.6 gave Collingwood their seventh straight win over the Swans, their fourth in a row at the venue, and moved them up to fourth spot.
It was the third time in as many interstate engagements this year that Collingwood finished on the positive side of the ledger, following wins over the Lions in Brisbane and the Eagles in Perth.
The surging Magpies, who have won four straight games, have just one more interstate fixture in the home and away season, against Adelaide.
“We come away as a group, we know what we have to do and we stick together,” Didak said.
“It’s just weird, maybe we should play more interstate games.
“We just come together as a team. When we’re back in Melbourne we get to training and we do our bits and pieces and leave the club and do different things.
“But when we come away we leave a day earlier, we get together, we have a laugh and we don’t really worry too much about what’s happening back home.”
Collingwood coach Mick Malthouse, who brought up his 600th AFL game as a coach, said he wasn’t unfamiliar with success on the road, harking back to his days as the West Coast mentor.
He attributed Collingwood’s interstate success this year to following a “fairly rigid structure” which the players seem to enjoy.
“Perhaps it’s what Anthony Rocca said a couple of years ago, it just takes a bit of home town pressure heat off,” Malthouse said.
“There may be a little bit to that because (former West Coast forward) Peter Sumich said the same thing in the 1990s.”
Pushed into more of a midfield role following a first quarter knee injury to Scott Pendlebury, Didak kicked two goals and tallied 34 possessions and six marks.
He was happy with the way his game was progressing in his third match back from a hamstring injury.
“While it was five weeks, it really felt like I was out forever, it was good to get back and get a few touches, but more importantly we’ve won and we’re in the top four,” Didak said.
“I got drafted as a midfielder and Mick likes to play me in the forward line, if I can get into the midfield for 10 or 20 minutes a game I’m happy, but we’ve got a great midfield.”
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