Like last season, Collingwood has finished at the halfway mark of the season in a good position with eight wins and three losses.
However, the Magpies will no doubt be hoping that the second half of the season doesn’t end up the same as 2014 when they won just three of their last 11 to miss the finals for the first time since 2005.
We will get a fair idea of how they are tracking with their four matches after the bye when they play in-form Fremantle, Hawthorn and West Coast along with one of the pre-season premiership favourites Port Adelaide at the Adelaide Oval.
The Power are struggling at the moment, especially at home, but should still be hard to beat if they recover their mojo. They seem to have too much talent not to eventually get it together and play the excellent football they have been renowned for over the past two years.
If the Magpies can win two of those, they deserve to be finals bound and maybe premiership contenders – and the way they are playing at the moment they would be a good chance of achieving that.
The issue is putting together four quarters, but generally they are finishing games off well as the transformation of their list continues under Nathan Buckley.
They didn’t want to lose star midfielder, Dayne Beams, but he wanted to return to Queensland for family reasons and although he has been one of the few shining lights for the Lions so far, the Pies are probably in front in that trade at this stage.
They secured Jack Crisp from Brisbane in that deal along with pick 5 Jordan de Goey.
Crisp has been outstanding. He is clearly one of the biggest improvers in the competition, giving Collingwood some important outside run, while De Goey has made a good start to his AFL career and has that x-factor.
They have a number of other youngsters who are permanent members of the side such as Paul Seedsman and Marley Williams, who is fast becoming one of the league’s best small defenders.
Tom Langdon continues to develop nicely as a third tall in defence, who provides run, and Adam Oxley is another rookie, who has done well since being promoted to the senior list. He, like Crisp, has improved superbly.
Another Buckley disciple is Jack Frost. He is the old fashioned defender, who doesn’t get many disposals.
His job is to shut down his opponent and he does it well in the mould of another Collingwood full back, Simon Prestigiacomo, young Bulldog key defender, Fletcher Roberts, Richmond’s Dylan Grimes and St Kilda full back, Luke Delaney among others.
Frost provides excellent support for Nathan Brown allowing Collingwood to cope without injury-prone All Australian key defender Ben Reid and the retirement of inspirational skipper Nick Maxwell.
Scott Pendlebury and Dane Swan are still playing wonderful football with Steele Sidebottom and Travis Cloke, whose goal-kicking has been more reliable in recent weeks to complement his magnificent contested marking, but these stars required others to step up and they are doing it at the moment.
As well as picking up Crisp in a trade, the Pies looked for more experience to assist Dane Swan and Scott Pendlebury and recruited Travis Varcoe from Geelong for more outside run and Levi Greenwood, who was coming off his best season with North Melbourne to give them extra grunt on the inside.
Injury has curtailed his contribution so far, but he will give the midfield more depth, which is required if Collingwood are to climb the mountain and compete with the best sides.
Jesse White, after being inconsistent in Sydney, also joined the Magpies under Buckley and is starting to thrive and big Jarrod Witts is continuing to progress along the path of becoming a viable ruck option with Brodie Grundy.
Nine players remain on the playing list who played in the 2010 premiership, so Buckley is building his own team gradually.
Injuries and inexperience appeared to play a part in their demise in the second half of last season and the coach was given some latitude for the poor finish, but if the same fate afflicts Collingwood after the bye this year and they miss the finals again, the usually cool, calm and collected Nathan Buckley may start to get hot under the collar.
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