With pep in their step, thanks largely to a seven-goal final term, they make the trek across the Nullarbor to take on the might of the West Coast Eagles who also ended their first week encounter with Sydney in similar fashion, successful, yet again by a point.
The meticulous Malthouse, like any good coach, leaves no stone unturned in his quest for success, and his knowledge of the West Coast, having led them throughout the 1990s, will come into play as always.
As hackneyed as it sounds, this encounter will be won and lost from the midfield. Chris Judd, Daniel Kerr, Michael Braun, Adam Selwood, Rowan Jones. There and then Eagles have a midfield even the Lions of 2001-2003 would have struggled to contain.
On the flipside of the coin, we at Collingwood possess a battery of midfielders, who, the anti-Magpie antagonists say, are too slow, lack polish, class and are devoid of pace.
Weren’t they watching us last year, or in 2002 and 2003 for that matter?
It seems as if these experts have not kept up to date with the goings on down Lexus way, for the club have won three of its past four encounters with the Eagles, our only loss coming in round seven at Subiaco last year, and sans rucking support for Josh Fraser still managed to go down by just 14 points.
The likes of Shane O’Bree, Paul Licuria and Dane Swan are greatly underestimated, and give plenty of bangs for their bucks, often surprising many in breaking even with star-studded opposition.
Without Brodie Holland, there will have to be plenty of thinking done as to who tackles the brilliance of Judd. And it isn’t an easy to task come up with any players who could potentially shut down the skipper, and not just at Collingwood, but throughout the league.
In the absence of Brodie Holland, one man who could curb the brilliance of Judd is Ryan Lonie, who has successfully shut down Chad Cornes in the past and limited the output of Kangaroo Daniel Wells last week. Lonie is deceptively tall and has never struggled for fitness nor pace. Could he be the chosen one to take the points over Judd?
The form guide:
Collingwood overcame a slow start to overrun the Kangaroos last Saturday afternoon in front of 44,000 of the faithful.
Paul Medhurst looked the part in his debut in Black and White colours in booting two goals, whilst the defensive unit of James Clement (the Jason McCartney Medallist) and Heath Shaw took off from where they left off in 2006.
The Coasters blew the Swans out of the water early on Saturday night to romp to a six goal lead before, as expected, Sydney charged back to fall short by a point. Judd and Kerr blitzed all comers, and Mitchell Brown, twin to our Nathan, slotted in nicely in attack.
Head to Head since 2000:
Collingwood: 5
West Coast: 4
Since the turn of the century, the Pies have had the wood over the Eagles, winning three of their past four meetings including a 37-point triumph in round 16 last year at Telstra Dome. In fact, West Coast have proven a source of joyful victories in recent times, the club breaking its run of outs against them in the split round of 2001 with a Josh Fraser inspired 81 point win. Brodie Holland’s career best eight goal haul single-handedly handed the team its initial win of 2002, while a famous win was recorded at the MCG in round nine of 2005 when the 16th placed Collingwood dragged themselves off the canvas to give the ladder leading Eagles a wake up call.
The tip: Logic says West Coast should win comfortably, but logic gets thrown out the window in a game of football. With the next generation in Thomas, Pendlebury and Cloke starring, Collingwood to get up by eight points. Blind faith? No chance! Go Pies!
