Collingwood are an obvious player on the finals poker table. The biggest story going into 2012 with the Pies surely has to be the Kirribilli agreement – Mick Malthouse, second at the club in most games as coach, and Nathan Buckley, club record holder in most games as captain/acting captain.
Mick departed, deciding not to stick around for a further three years as the Pies’ director of coaching, a role which might have crowded Bucks in his new role as head coach.
Yet Buckley will still have experienced people around him, including recent addition Rodney Eade, fresh from the reigns of the Western Bulldogs.
Rocket joined Collingwood as a football and coaching strategist. Another former Bulldogs coaching signing is Mitch Hahn, who takes on the position of forward development coach.
Down back, Bucks will have Ben Hart in charge of captain Nick Maxwell, Heath Shaw, Ben Reid and co. Former St Kilda star Robert Harvey will assist as midfield coach – a similar role he held at Carlton and with the Saints.
Former Blue Matt Lappin, local favourite Tarkyn Lockyer, Craig McRae, Anothny Rocca and 2011 TAC under-18 premiership-winning coach Dale Tapping will also be in the box come game time.
The coaching change brings about many questions.
What will be the same? What will be different? What will Bucks tinker with or overhaul? We will soon find out.
Buckley is in a similar position to what Geelong head coach Chris Scott had before him at the start of 2011. Scott made only minor changes as he respected what was already in place. The rest is history.
Last year Collingwood lost only three games – all to Geelong with margins of three, 96 and 38 in the grand final. The Pies had an average winning margin of 53 points and although they weren’t the best team in the preliminary final, they still managed the beat Hawthorn with three excellent minutes of football – not to mention several costly mistakes from the Hawks.
Collingwood has a complete team. Last season they had six All-Australians, four players with 10 or more votes in the Brownlow Medal count, and the Brownlow Medalist in Dane Swan with 34 votes.
They have an awesome midfield. They have a terrific and solid back line. They have a lethal and powerful forward line. They have depth. They have youngsters – they fielded five debutants last year and have an average list age of 23 years and 266 days; All-Australian defender Ben Reid is arguably one of the youngest elite players in the league.
This Magpies team is expected to be major players in the finals for easily the next three years.
Over the off-season the changes to the squad have been minimal. Leigh Brown (retirement), Leon Davis (personal reasons), Brad Dick and John McCarthy (both delisted) were the only ones to leave the Westpac Centre.
Collingwood open their season with a preliminary final rematch against Hawthorn and will again play Geelong twice, in rounds eight and 16. The Pies have a very tough schedule, arguably the toughest, with return encounters against five of the 2011 finalists – Geelong, Hawthorn, West Coast, Carlton and Essendon. However, with Pendles, Swanny, Daisy, Shaw, Cloke, Reid, Ball and Harry, I am sure they’ll get by.
Players to keep an eye on this year for Collingwood are a fit and in-form Dayne Beams and Nathan Brown, who could be treated almost as a rookie as he returns from injury. Marty Clarke could be the replacement for neon Leon, while question marks remain over whether Alan Didak can come back or not.
Meanwhile, many will be watching the progress of Kirk Ugle and Jarrod Witts (209cm), two 19-year olds. Ugle is definitely one to watch after an impressive year in the VFL last season. Likewise Witts could be anything, perhaps even the the next Sandilands?
In summary, Collingwood have the game plan, the experience and an outstanding list that will get them to the final four once again.
stabpass
Guest
Yes, Leon played well in the finals last season, his kicking is usually pinpoint, and he was IMO unfairly targeted. Dont really Like Malthouses or Buckleys public image, although inside the club they mat be completely different. Hope Collingwood has a great year, and makes it to the GF, and wins it if Freo cannot. (which they cant). I want to see Collingwood get around 80,000 members and cap the MCG, that would be a awesome and scary sight. Amazing that a side can be so powerfu/popularl considering only 2 flags since 1958
Thom
Guest
I don't think this is being entirely fair to Leon on his finals performance last year. He got tagged as going missing in finals early in his career and it never left. He was actually quite good in the qual and prelim last year. He kicked a pretty important goal from 50 on his left to get collingwood over the line in front of 90 thousand screaming fans in the prelim. I guess it's pretty hard to shake a reputation such as that one
amazonfan
Guest
If you don't perform during the home & away season, you might not get an opportunity to win in September. While his pay packet should be indicative of his performances (or lack thereof) in September, which is probably why he was 'offered' a pay cut, I don't think he needed to give his pay packet back to Ed.
Cam Larkin
Roar Guru
I don't think the loss of Davis will impact them much. He was awful, just awful in finals. I'll give it to him that he had a good year and made the AA team but you get paid to win in September! He should've given his pay packet back to Ed.
JD
Guest
You've been privy to Bucks and his coaching staff's strategy meetings Stam? It would be folly in any case not to change the game plan at least a bit. The draw is tough and injuries may again be the stumbling block. Usually a team is pretty hungry after experiencing a GF loss though...
Max
Guest
Unusually hard draw? If I recall correctly, Collingwood was the only team in 2010 to play all the top teams from the previous year twice (Dogs, Saints & Cats) We all know how that season finished!
Greg Mac
Guest
All Australian (Davis) might be a bigger lost then people think... Huge pressure on Marty Clarke to step straight back in and play that role.
Stephen
Guest
Being a Collingwood member we are accustomed to reading comments like yours! However, you're comments have left me intrigued. How does a coach who believes in himself mean a team will struggle to make the top 4? Also I'm interested to know where you get your idea that Buckley has changed the game plan? Surely it can't be after watching one NAB CUP game where we had 6 debutants and 5 players who have played a combined 23 games of senior football between them. Buckley is one of about 6 coaches in the AFL who chooses the NAB CUP to experiment will young talent, it's called growing your depth. If you want to talk struggle to make top four, look at Hawthorn who played a full strength side minus 1 or 2 players against a Richmond reserve side and got beat! In saying that, "I" believe that considering Cameron Larkin is someone who is highly regarded, (or he would not be writing reviews on AFL teams on this site) and youre uneducated comments, its clear that you are obviously a hater who scans articles about Collingwood so you can add you meaningless ramble.
Redb
Roar Guru
My immediate thoughts are Eade has taken a job. The Bulldogs perhaps right to move on. I don't sense Eade & Buckley have any sort of mentor relationship more an opportunistic signing for both.
TomC
Guest
Almost the same group of players, but it's hard to imagine Buckley getting the same level of performance out of them that Malthouse did. In fact, it's hard to imagine anyway getting that level of performance out of them. This is Malthouse's team. That said, in some ways Collingwood could go backwards from last season and still win the flag. The only thing that stopped them from one of the most dominant seasons of any team ever was the rejuvenated Geelong.
Cam Larkin
Roar Guru
That's it, it will be interesting to see how Bucks goes about it. One thing Buckley must do though is relax and enjoy the ride. It isn't hard to imagine Buckley post-game media conferences as boring and cliche-infested. What are your thoughts on the signing of Rocket?
Redb
Roar Guru
Collingwood are of course a Top 4 prospect. In theory their list is as good as the past two seasons but so far in 2012 injuries have taken them down a notch in expectations. It is of course only the pre season and its likely they will recover most of their players early in 2012 , but the club seems to be having a bad trot with injuries which happens sometimes, just ask Essendon. Injuries and suspensions certainly took their toll on the Pies during the 2011 finals, whereas in 2010 they had a pretty good run. As always, need to check back about Round 10 to see how they are traveling with new coach Nathan Buckley.
Cam Larkin
Roar Guru
I tweeted several weeks back that it would be a Hawks/Pies GF. I haven't been the biggest fan of Cloke but last year he was huge and I expect even more this year. I disagree with your comment that other teams are hungrier. Ben Reid down back - injured going into the GF and had a poor game...the desire to get back to the big dance and win a flag is there. Pendles and Swan, the engine room, have one focus - success. The Pies lost the GF...they know the feeling. Other teams don't.
stam
Roar Rookie
Your prediction of Collingwood finishing in the top four is Nostradamus like, do you see them making the grand final? I see them struggling to make the top four due to a coach who believes in himself and changing their game plan just a bit too much, an unusually hard draw for Collingwood and other teams being hungrier.
Cam Larkin
Roar Guru
The Pies are favs to win it all at 3.75 ahead of the Hawks, Geelong and Carlton who are at 9-1.