A LARGE part of Collingwood's success this season could hinge on the club being able to achieve what Greater Western Sydney, through both trial and differing circumstances, couldn't in years gone by.

Among a busy Trade Period at the AIA Centre last October, the acquisition of Giants free agent Harry Perryman on a six-year deal worth around $900,000 per season was certainly among the splashiest of the Magpies' moves.

Perryman was targeted by Collingwood to play as a midfielder. It's a role that the Giants, through multiple coaches and across multiple different seasons, trialled him in, stopped, trialled him in again, then stopped again.

So, will it work under Craig McRae?

The potential benefits were clear in the Pies' last pre-season hitout . According to Champion Data, Perryman attended 20 centre bounces in the AAMI Community Series win over Richmond, finishing with 20 disposals, 10 tackles, four clearances, six inside-50s, five score involvements and a goal. So far, so good.

The numbers were similar whenever Perryman played through the midfield at Engie Stadium. In 2022, when Champion Data logged him as playing 35 per cent game time in the middle – the most significant onball minutes of his career – his influence was reflected in his individual statistics.

Perryman averaged 22 disposals, nine contested possessions, seven groundball gets and five tackles – all career-highs and ranked either average or above average among all midfielders – despite still playing 30 per cent of the season in defence.

And yet the Giants never persisted with their Perryman midfield experiment. In fact, last season – his final one at the club – was the only year of his eight in the charcoal and orange where he didn't see a single midfield minute.

Leon Cameron and Adam Kingsley, as Perryman's two full-time coaches at the Giants, as well as interim Mark McVeigh, saw varying levels of success with his stints in the midfield. It's a large reason why he started just 224 centre bounces in his 129 games with the club.

In only four of his 129 games did he hit 20 centre bounce attendances, the figure he reached already last Wednesday night and what Collingwood would probably expect of him again this Sunday in the side's Opening Round clash against the Giants.

So, if his individual numbers were good, why did the experiment stop? Well, according to Champion Data, when Perryman started a centre bounce at the Giants, they won clearance just 40 per cent of the time. That ranks his clearance success rate as the 25th best of the 30 most used centre-bounce players at the club since 2017.

The Giants, certainly under Kingsley's guidance, subsequently began to overlook Perryman in favour of a more dynamic midfield able to transition better. It's why the likes of Tom Green, Josh Kelly, Stephen Coniglio, Finn Callaghan and more recently Toby Bedford became the side's go-to midfield options over Perryman.

Circumstance also played its part. Perryman had spent the entire 2022-23 summer training with the midfield group – the first summer with Kingsley at the helm, highlighting at least an initial willingness to trial the move – only for him to injure his hamstring minutes into the team's round one clash against Adelaide in a setback that would keep him sidelined for a month.

Academy graduate Harry Rowston moved into the midfield mix while Perryman was absent and, although he did briefly return to the fold upon his return, he was forced out again just five games later. This time, it was in favour of both Callan Ward and Callaghan. And, this time, it was a tactical decision from Kingsley, rather than one that was enforced by injury.

After that, Perryman hardly saw midfield minutes again. Through the rest of the 2023 season, he played 74 per cent of game time in the backline. The following year, his last at the Giants, Champion Data logged him spending 100 per cent of matches in defence. Clearly, Kingsley and his coaching group had moved on.

And so, much of Collingwood's hopes in 2025 now rests on playing Perryman in a position that clicked for him, but never really for the Giants during his eight seasons at the club.

The fact that his first match in his new colours, playing in that exact same midfield spot, will come against his former side, adds another layer of intrigue to both Perryman's move and Collingwood's success this season.