Collingwood turns on its own players

Well said Cate. A very detailed and accurate response. Have you thought about submitting it as a separate article for The Roar? That would give it greater prominence and better expose the shameful excuses, made by supporters of clubs which fall short, that the 'Pies success as a club is the result of some mythological favouritism. I agree with you about the Bullies and Melbourne and I too hate to see them struggle. Both clubs have suffered from bad management over a prolonged period however (so have Richmond and Port Adelaide) and that's where the changes should start. The Mighty 'Pies themselves were a basket case in the late '90's due to poor administration, but just look what's happened since Eddie, Walshy and Pertie took over. In support of the also-rans, why don't all we Roarers buy a 2013 membership for Melbourne or the Bullies, as a show of good faith. Maybe if they've got some support they can bring in a decent administration as a step in the right direction.

NeeDeep - I agree that this forum allows any footy fan to express their opinion. Here's my response to some of the claims you make about Collingwood being favoured by the AFL. One of the reasons Collingwood plays extra games at the MCG is a contract that was signed a number of years ago. It all started when Brisbane had to play a 'home' preliminary at the MCG (2004) because there was an agreement between the MCC and the AFL that there must be one game played there each week during the finals. So, the AFL went to the MCC and used Collingwood as a bargaining chip to break the agreement. The MCC would be prepared to break the agreement, which would then allow interstate teams to play their finals matches at 'home' if they were the higher ranked team even if it meant the MCG was left without a match during the first three weeks of the finals, if two extra Collingwood games were scheduled there during the season to make up for (potentially) lost revenue. Also, Collingwood is always drawn to play an away game against Melbourne there on the Queen's Birthday to help with the Ds dire financial problems. Then Carlton, Essendon and Geelong have to play home games against Collingwood at the MCG to ensure each clubs' home and away members can fit in the ground. Meanwhile, we have to play two home games at Etihad each year and often we play a 'home' game against St Kilda, North or Bulldogs at Etihad which is their home ground. So, Collingwood is drawn to play 9 home games at our home ground the MCG. Everything else is planned around maximising crowds, ensuring interstate sides get to play home finals regardless of anything and other clubs requests. Do remember that we only have two major stadiums in Melbourne, so where would you like us to play? Do you think North Melbourne versus Fremantle should be scheduled at the MCG and Collingwood versus Essendon at Etihad? Hawthorn played 13 games at the MCG in 2012 and 4 games in Tasmania. Why no comments about that? Look at Collingwood's draw in 2010 and 2012. Both were considered very tough by the experts, yet we still finished top 4 both years. We were also the only club that had to play the other three top 4 sides from 2010 twice in 2011. Collingwood had to travel 5 times in season 2012 - on a par with many other Victorian teams. Essendon only went Interstate 3 times in 2010 - didn't hear any claims of 'unfair' over that. We love to travel, win most of our games outside of Victoria and, quite frankly, I would rather travel an extra three to four times a season than have to play at Etihad where there is absolutely no atmosphere and the security staff are rude and officious. Your example of the Maxwell/McGinnity incident is a bit old now. The MRP has got a whole lot tougher since that happened and Maxwell would probably be rubbed out these days. Your club chose to make the poxy Colonial/Telstra Dome/Etihad Stadium its home ground, so perhaps you need to blame your club's administration rather than the AFL for St Kilda only playing a couple of games at the MCG each year. The tribunal - look at the stats and you will see no favours being given to the Pies. We lost Jason Cloke for the 2002 Grand Final and Rocca for the 2003 Grand Final. Barry Hall punches one of your players in the guts 100 meters away from the ball and gets to play the next week and captain his team to a flag. Heath Shaw cops 14 weeks (has to serve 8) for betting on a first goal to Maxwell knowing he was going to play forward (although interestingly, Shaw kicked the ball to a another team mate in front of goal even though Maxwell was right near the goal square, calling for the ball and probably would have kicked the first goal of the game had Heater decided to kick to him - don't think the bet was that serious!!) while Nathan Bock gives his friends and family the inside info that he will be playing in the forward line, said friends and family win $40,000 when he kicks the first goal of the game and he only cops a two match suspension (and this was after the Heath Shaw suspension, so he could hardly claim ignorance). I can see what you mean by charmed run - not. I would love nothing better than if every team had to play each other twice. You see, some lucky teams got to play Gold Coast and GWS twice this season (or at least one of the these hopeless newbies twice). Also, playing every other team twice would eliminate the myth that Collingwood gets favoured by the AFL. I can see the gap between the haves and the have nots growing even bigger and this concerns me. Even though I am a passionate Collingwood supporter, I hate seeing clubs like Melbourne and the Bulldogs struggle in nearly every aspect on and off the field. Both clubs will probably have to look on as Gold Coast and GWS win flags even though these franchise teams only exist to improve TV ratings in Queensland and New South Wales.

"Collingwood Football Club is a leader in its field, the premier sporting club in Australia, and sets an example for others to follow." How can Collingwood be the premier sporting club in Australia when it's not even the premier club in the AFL? "Just a little bit jealous, are you." Who would be jealous of Collingwood?

I don't think VFA flags should be included. It was a separate competition.

Collingwood have 16 including their VFA flag of 1896 though, saying that if Essendon include flags in the association they have 20 premierships including the 1891.1892, 1893 and 1894 flags brought to us by Albert the great( who also led us to 57 wins in a row in that era) the first player to kick more than 50 goals in a season in Victoria as well as the only player to achieve this feat before the first world war. Also Geelong go to 16 flags as well as they won 7 flags from 1878-1880, 1882-1884 as well as 1886 in the association.

Let's just point out that you were closer to losing 2010 than you were to winning 2011.

Dude.. tell your doggies mate to do the unthinkable and come to the dark side... nothing beats being a West Coast fan :-)

langou, I am relaxed – I barrack for St. Kilda and have no high expectations for the next several years. Anything the Saints achieve they will have well and truly earned, against the odds. Our second most favourite ground behind Docklands is Pattersons Curse (formerly Subiaco). After all, we play more games in WA than at the MCG! I’m certainly not the Lone Ranger when it comes to thinking “something is rotten in Denmark”. Maybe I’m just not as apathetic as most others and The Roar gives me an opportunity to voice “my opinion”! I guess the point I’m trying to make is that the AFL certainly seems to go out of its way to ensure Collingwood make the finals each year, for commercial reasons. They seem to get a relatively soft draw with the fixture – OK, they had some tougher games this year, but they get a lot of MCG matches and didn’t travel all that much (same as previous years) which is then forced onto other Melbourne based teams, to equal out the fixture and ensure the interstate clubs aren’t inconvenienced. It also seems to work out that way for them at the tribunal – they do get a charmed run. And yes Maxwell did get rubbed out this year. It was so obvious it would have been madness to argue otherwise and I guess it’s like a punter, if you have several wins, you eventually realize dropping one every now and again isn’t a bad thing, if you win on most occasions. Go and have a look at the You Tube clip for the Maxwell & McGinnity incident and tell me if you reckon that was a fair bump – which it obviously was, as he got off the charge. Having looked at that one, then think about some of the more recent incidents – Buddy Franklin on Benny Cousins as he was doing a blind spin out of a pack and ran into Buddy, or this years Jack Zeibell on Aaron Joseph incident. That Maxwell incident changed the rule and everybody since then has got rubbed out – but Maxwell escaped the penalty. Why? Anyway, I like the idea of an even playing field and when it arrives, I’m sure I’ll chill-ax even more!

Xavier and Scotch might be the only ones near- Caulfield has about 6 current I think..

Obviously being a Collingwood supporter my opinion is biased here, and Geeolong was clearly the best team of that finals series. Yet the weight of recent history shows that a team which can coast to victory in the prelim (rather than the team that fights their way in to the GF) and the longer break in the final week will have an advantage. Collingwood was spent before the final rounds of both of the last two seasons and trying desperately to find some form. This year was more excusable than last due to constantly losing players to injury in the first half of the year. Malthouse was excellent at getting the most from a list. Buckley so far has proved every bit as capable. I do note he blasted Wellingham for lack of heart against th Eagles.

Great call brendan, nearly every Collingwood supporter I see has a reason why they lost it and Geelong didn't deserve it (despite the fact that Geelong had beaten Collingwood twice earlier in the year). Great article as well Andrew, one thing I disagree with is that Dawes requested to leave because of Lynch's arrival. Unless there has been discussions within the football club that haven't been made public I would assume Dawes would be pleased of Lynch's arrival as it would allow him to play more of a forward role rather than forward/ruck (similar to his role in 2010/2011). Anyway hopefully will find out more when/if a deal is done

Nice work Richard. I could not of said it any better than you did. Side By Side!!!!

"Collingwood’s 2012 membership campaign has been rated the best in the AFL by Sports Business Insider." http://www.collingwoodfc.com.au/newsfeatures/news/newsarticle/tabid/5586/newsid/149607/default.aspx Another triumph for a club that some said had no class. Well, well! ;)

Needeep I think you need to take a few breaths and relax. You may have been hanging around too many West Coast fans- you are starting to talk like one. There may even be a medical term for what you have, where you feel that you are the victim and start putting together random pieces of information in the belief that there is an enemy that exists and why can’t everyone see how obvious it is. I won’t dissect your whole post but just pick one or two points in a hope that you will realise that you are safe and Collingwood F.C is not out to get you. For example, your fear that Nick Maxwell is above the laws of the game is not true – he got rubbed out in the finals this year. Harry O’Brien getting a free kick he shouldn’t have – that’s okay as well because that’s just one free kick and Collingwood actual finished last on the “free kicks per game” statistic and yes Didak and Shaw copped allot of flak in the media. Look we all hate Collingwood but your hatred verges on paranoia

After the Preliminary Final loss, Buckley praised the playing group for their effort this year. He said that was all a coach could ask for from the players. He also commended the players for their efforts under adversity this year at the Copeland trophy. It was a credit to Collingwood to be able to retain Cloke despite more money on offer at Carlton, Freo, Melbourne. The other big names rumoured to be leaving during the year, i.e. Tippett and Goddard, both left their clubs. Collingwood have thanked Wellingham for his service and negotiated quickly with West Coast to get him there. The club gave Wellingham a chance by picking him in the rookie draft, and spent years helping him develop into a quality midfielder. It would've been frustrating to see him decide to go home to Perth after all that effort. Whilst Wellingham perhaps could have been more consistent, which is a fair comment, he was an important contributor to a good midfield group. The Pies will definitely miss him. He has good pace, can take a mark, and can kick goals. He is worth a first round pick. The Pies have shown faith in Dawes from the outset. They recruited him when he was recovering from a knee injury, and helped him develop into a strong bodied key position player. It's unfortunate that he lost his marking ability after suffering a knuckle injury in 2011. His form up to that stage had been solid. Both Malthouse and Buckley continued to show faith in him despite his marking ability falling away. I was disappointed to hear a minority of Collingwood supporters giving him a hard time when he fumbled marks. His work rate has always been good and the coaches recognised that. Dawes showed loyalty by extending his contract at Collingwood for less money than he could have commanded elsewhere. The recruitment of the 30 y.o. Lynch shouldn't have troubled Dawes. Lynch can play the "Leigh Brown" role and Dawes would still be the second key forward as has worked in 2010/11. Personally, I hope Dawes stays, but good luck to him if he can secure a higher paying contract for the remainder of his career. There will always be some players at every club who aren't happy for any number of reasons. Collingwood are no different. They are however a very well run club and have come a long way after Eddie became president. Mike Sheahan might like your anti Collingwood article. He may even use some of your points to write his own anti Collingwood article. The Herald Sun often publishes some rubbish about Collingwood when there's little footy news to report to help sell papers in the off season.

Oh and I also forgot to mention the class CFC has shown in dealing with off-field indiscretions by its players. Dealing with highly paid, highly fit, publicly admired, still maturing young athletes with high libidos requires leadership, moral backbone, sound judgement, fairness, empathy yet firmness of hand, the willingness to look beyond the present and the ability to make the tough decisions. CFC has consistently shown all that with the approach to mistakes made by, among others, Swanny, Dids, Shawry, Tarrant. All that is important in making the club stronger, and in turning boys into men. Contrast that with the lack of resolve shown by Carlton with Fevola. They're repeating the mistakes now with Scotland. Nominate the club with no class? You need go no further than the club which bought itself a premiership by rorting the salary cap.

"The modern era has seen Brisbane win three successive titles and Geelong claim multiple flags but it’s extremely unfair to expect this Collingwood team to replicate the achievements of those great sides." This Collingwood team were in it until 3 qtr time in 2011, and if they didn't fall into a slight form slump in that final series would have gone back to back. Their window is wide open after signing Cloke to a 5 year deal. A bit premature to say they aren't "great". Come back in 5 years time after Buckley has had a few years in the job and we'll see how history judges the Collingwood Football Club. They definitely are in a better position than under Mick in 2002, 03.

Agreed * milion! :D

3 prelims? 1 minor premiership? 2 grand finals? Let collingwood worry about collingwood. Perhaps wellingham is happy to go home & the club should be congratulated for enabling this. For all the crap written about the pies, we are good at trading. Heck, even other clubs have recently testified to this. We'll be okay mate, thanks for your concern. Maybe you can write an article next about how we sacked a premiership coach next.

Really good read there Andrew, and couldn't agree more. Nothing worse then when a club all of a sudden devalues a player once they have left the club, yet as you said when they wanted a trade for them they wanted someone or something big. Bit irish!