Is Collingwood's dominance finally over?

Mate. Do an article on Sydney

The Pies had one of the most dominant seasons ever recorded. We had a bad month starting with the 96 point loss to Geelong in the final round. Beat the Eagles who came hard at us in the semis, but as I said we beat them as a shadow of the side thta had dominated a season like hardly any before it (20 wins huge % despite 96 loss in last round). Then came the whingeing hawks who have just won there GF in round one. Yeah we played shocking in the prelim. but who won, great sides win even when the chips are down. Then we played 3 and a half quarters of decent football in the GF. Press stop on that GF at 15min into the last and its one of the best you'll see, the final margin was from junk time goals and didn't reflect the contest. Make no mistake the Pies are still contenders for the cup for at least the next 3-4 and with the money, members and professionalism, and the way the game is heading, free agency, higher salary caps, you Collingwood haters better get used to black and white in september, as you may never see one without COLLINGWOOD again.

Cattery, If I was Sos, I'd be thinking long and hard about just how many of the very good kids the $1.5m could lock up for 3-5 years. Yes, it'd be nice to get Cloke ... but locking Cameron, Shiel, Coniglio and Hampton up for 5 years looks tasty as well.

Just heard that Pendles has re-signed with the pies, so that now leaves Cloke out of the three big birds. Can't remember who it was that said it first, but I'm starting to think that GWS might have to settle with getting its hands on someone like Ben Reid, not absolutely top shelf, but relatively young, and certainly someone who would complement Phil Davis quite nicely, GWS could build a decent defensive unit around those two.

If Buckley can seamlessly replace  Malthouse then my projections about Collingwood will almost certainly be wrong. But I don't think that will happen. While more emphasis is being placed on the football department rather than just the head coach, I don't think the transition from Malthouse to Buckley will be as smooth as hoped.  Plus Malthouse was able to get so much out of the young players. This is a gut feeling but I think Malthouse would be much better at that than Buckley.  If that's true, most of those young Collingwood players won't make much of a contribution this year. While I concede Collingwood's best 22 is young and will therefore naturally improve, I'm not sold on players 23-30

As one of your ardent Collingwood supporters, I feel we have many exciting players at the younger end of our list- Ugle, Seedsman, Young, Ceglar, Rounds Sinclair- not to mention Paine and Yagamoor, the return of Clarke and S.Buckley putting his hand up again lately. There should be no concern that our list has diminished at that development end. A fully fit and confident Beams and Didak will help greatly, Fasolo getting up the tank to play a full game and Dawes, Reid, Shaw and Jolly all recovered from injury. Towards the end of the season we may even have Krakour and Macaffer back if everything went perfectly with their recoveries (unlikely I know).. In 2010 Collingwood started the season with many tipping they would struggle. We were 17-1 odds of the flag at one early stage and I thought it incredible that people overlooked the depth of talent in our list then.. Despite all this, and the obvious fact that no club sets out to drop in form over a season, I think the Pies have managed the outlook for the next five years exceptionally well and that they are giving Buckley the best chance to build long-term success rather than a flash-in-the-pan. He will build on Malthouse's foundations, not shatter them.

No doubt Collingwood will still be very strong this year. They have too many good players to not be one of the best teams. But it seemed that last year they started to rely on a few players to do a lot of the work. Even the most ardent Collingwood supporters have to admit there were more than a couple that went missing in the Grand Final. Also I agree about the Geelong dominance comment from Australian Rules but I was referring to the regular season more so than the finals.

I totally agree. A couple more key injuries and the Pies might indeed struggle for top 4. Losing Malthouse will be felt more than the loss of Bomber Thompson at the Cats. For starters Mick took with him over 2 decades of top line coaching and being at the helm of two great eras in two of the most powerful clubs in the land. Brad Scott inherited a team with so many on field leaders that the team could almost have coached itself (no offence to Scotty who definately re-energised a slightly flat lot that was without the best footballer in the land in Ablett). Is Maxwell the equal of a Milburn or Scarlett. How does Cloke match up against Stevie J or Mooney. And what about Swan and Pendles against Bartel, Ling, Corey or Selwood for leadership values. Having said that I can see the Cats stumbling a little this year as well. Perfectly timed for the Hawks or other similarly prepared team to snatch a premiership while the Pies adjust to life under Buckley or the Cats do a little bit of testing with Smedts, Duncan, Hogan, West, Vardy, Motlop still finding their feet to some extent. A surprise premier might even be in the offing - Blues, Sydney or Freo maybe - if they can manage their lists and injuries heading into September. I think this year will be more open than the past 3 or 4.

Shouldn't this article read: "Is Geelong's dominance finally over?" Collingwood have won 1 flag in 20 years.

It may not be over, but its threatening to slide a bit. All clubs have bad runs of injuries, it might be Colingwood's turn. Plus I think their game plan is no longer special, it has been copied and in some cases improved.

Signs that Collingwood's dominance had started to wane were evident about two-thirds through the season last year. By that I mean, that they no longer looked as invincible as they had looked the previous 30 games or so. Perhaps a combination of injuries, other clubs unravelling the pies' forward press system and the endless coaching speculation. But - no longer appearing invincible is a long way off saying the club can't win the premiership, they are clearly one of the teams in the running, but the early part of the season might be rough because they are probably carrying more injuries than any other club and we really don't know a lot about what Buckley will do with the team - far too early to judge him. Balanced against that - any team with Swan, Pendles and Cloke in the 18 is going to do very, very well. Two of the best ball winners in the comp with the best one grabber presenting all day long - good combination in any era of footy.

I can understand where you're coming from about the negativity surrounding Collingwood but I still can't fathom how a rookie coach has taken charge of a team when the best coach in the AFL was at the helm last year. Also, while I think Pendlebury and Cloke will stay, it creates huge salary cap pressure. A few of the mid-tier players could leave. It seems Collingwood players are playing more games with their contract than Geelong players have done during their time at the top, and fair enough because of the opportunities available from GWS and free agency. In 2010 the Pies had the likes of Lockyer, O'Bree, Davis and Fraser missing from the premiership team, providing great depth. Not sure how many names of that quality Collingwood has in reserve this year. A few young guys will probably come through but not enough to sustain their dominance of the past two years. Not to say they won't finish top four, but I doubt it will be top two. -- Comment left via The Roar's iPhone app. Download The Roar's iPhone App in the App Store here.

How can it be over when it has hardly even started?! Plenty more to see from the Magpies

Dear Dinny (writer of this article), As a Collingwood supporter, we hear more speculation about our club than any other club in the AFL. We have come to know that if you need to write an article and you have nothing to speak about, then just speak about Collingwood. It is acceptable in the public's eyes to speak negatively about Collingwood, (because Collingwood have generally been disliked more than any other club in history) and so an article written in a negative light about Collingwood seems more socially acceptable. You have taken the safe option, like most reporters. I would like to say that it does become a little boring constantly hearing reporters speak negatively about Collingwood and trying to create a story where there is none. You are guessing about the future rather than reporting creatively on current events. I think you are showing your inexperieince by taking the easy way out by your unfound totally speculative comments, which seem very uninformed to any Collingwood supporter.