Expert
Star Hawthorn midfielder Tom Mitchell has broken the AFL’s game disposals record in the 34-point win over Collingwood at the MCG.
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Final score
Hawthorn 15.11 (101)
Collingwood 9.13 (67)
The Hawthorn Hawks and the Collingwood Magpies meet in a crucial first-round matchup at the Melbourne Cricket Ground. Join The Roar for live scores and commentary from 7:25pm (AEDT).
After both missing semi-final action in 2017, Hawthorn and Collingwood will have a pass mark for the season set as a return to the top eight.
For Collingwood, that was on the agenda twelve months ago, as the embattled Nathan Buckley sought to reignite his coaching career after the performance of the team continued to head south.
He has been entrusted with a still developing squad for 2018 and unless something changes, the supporters will undoubtedly be calling for his head, should the Pies fail to contend in the finals once again.
The talent at his disposal isn’t inept yet unfortunately some of their performances under Buckley have been and the gap between their best and worst days is far too wide.
The once mighty Hawthorn will look remarkably different without Luke Hodge and Josh Gibson organising in the back half.
With retirements, tough decisions and trades, the club will hope to have pulled the right strings and begin their rebuilding period in the right way with a first up win.
Alastair Clarkson will attempt to refresh the environment for the new squad and ensure that they understand this new phase in the club’s history may take some time to fully form.
These clubs are two of the toughest to get a handle on in terms of ladder predictions, with finals seemingly a distinct possibility yet considerable reservations about their potential existing at the same time.
Prediction
In a tough game to line up and the odds marginally favouring the Hawks, I am leaning a little the other way and can see the Pies getting things off to a bright start in a close run thing.
Collingwood by 13 points
Catch all the action on The Roar live coverage from 7:25pm (AEDT).