In a newspaper report on Tuesday, Magpies boss Eddie McGuire sprouted the ‘reach for the stars’ message when he said his club was aiming to go all the way in 2009.
“Everything we are doing this year is highly focused on one outcome and that is winning the premiership,” McGuire told The Age.
Caracella, who on Friday night will become Collingwood’s third stand-in coach of the season in the club’s NAB Cup semi-final against Essendon, said while “luck plays a part in any premiership” the Magpies had the cattle to challenge the AFL’s best.
“There’d be every chance to see us in the top four this year,” Caracella said.
“We made the top four two years ago and just missed last year. Our team is young and getting older, so you’d expect the team to improve.
“If you have a look at our draft picks over the last few years, there’s a lot of young talent.
“The oldest player might be Anthony Rocca now [so] we’ve got a good mix of players … people talk about a [premiership] window but I’m not too sure about that.”
Rocca would likely be a key piece of any Magpies’ premiership jigsaw.
He has yet to take part in any fast-paced, solid work on the training track but Caracella refuted suggestions Rocca would not play many matches this season.
“I don’t think Anthony’s that far away to be honest,” Caracella said.
“You look at the last two years, even Nathan Buckley got rested on the odd occasion – you might have thought he was injured but he wasn’t. He’s been rested and we’ve rested young players as well.
“So I’m sure that Anthony, being 32, he may get rested [from time to time] depending on how his body’s holding up.”
