2015 season – 12th
2016 prediction – 9th
THE BRIEF
This predictions thing is really starting to get tough. I had Collingwood in my top eight right up until about an hour before writing this when I decided there were a couple of clubs I must have ahead of them and thus the Magpies miss the finals for a third consecutive season. They are in that cluster of clubs which could rise or fall on the back on injuries, suspension or lack thereof. It must be said, I really like what Nathan Buckley is building and I think he has made this team his own in recent seasons, moving on some key players from the Malthouse era and bringing in quality kids he can mould. Adam Treloar joining from GWS in the off season is a prime example of this and he has been outstanding in the NAB Challenge. I don’t think Collingwood will suffer such a dramatic mid to late season fadeout as they have the past couple of years but I don’t think they’ll win quite enough games to contest the finals for the first time since 2013.
THE LOCK
Scott Pendlebury: I feel like Pendles has been around forever but he is still only 28 and in the absolute prime of his career. He is near on ‘un-tagable’, which I am not sure is even a word but I am running with it. He has been a pleasure to watch for a decade and i can’t imagine this season is going to be any different. If the Pies do make a leap up the ladder, the skipper will play a key role and the umpires will most certainly notice. At $21, he is without a doubt one of the best value Brownlow bets around.
THE STOCK
Darcy Moore: So much expectation on the son of a club great and so much anticipation to see how he would rise to the occasion of senior AFL football after a dominant under age career. The wraps weren’t wrong. He showed plenty in his nine games last season to suggest he might well live up to that expectation and conveniently, having only played the nine games, he scrapes in for eligibility for the Rising Star award. $11 = over the odds.
THE SMOKIN’ BARREL
Ben Reid: So much talent; so many injuries. Another year cruelled by the injury curse which has befallen one of the league’s finest swing men hopefully, for the sake of Collingwood and Reid, 2016 can be his year. Managed just five games last season but if he can stay injury free, which is a rather large sized question mark, he will be as good as a new recruit for the Magpie army.
