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Find your Sport Nation frequencyKing: Collingwood’s real asset that we’re not talking about enough
Lachlan Geleit • April 18th, 2025 10:39 am
Collingwood flexed its muscle with a powerful 52-point win over Brisbane at the Gabba on Thursday night.
The Magpies were imperious against the reigning premiers, leading at every break to make it five wins on the trot while replacing the Lions at the summit of the standings.
Following the Opening Round trouncing at the hands of GWS, the Pies have barely put a foot wrong, despite the fact they’ve been criticised for being too old.
While they’ve been impressive in all aspects over their last five games, they’ve improved most defensively.
After giving up 104 to the Giants in Opening Round, the Magpies have conceded scores of 45, 70, 46, 78 and 53 respectively to the Power, Dogs, Blues, Swans and Lions, teams that all played finals in 2024.
SEN’s David King thinks that the main reason behind Collingwood having the league’s best defence so far is their experience and age, the exact issue many had with the club leading into the campaign.
With Collingwood as organised as any team without the ball, King thinks that this experience is an asset that isn’t getting enough of a mention.
“Let’s put this on the radar really early, there's a lot of slows on the fact that they're an ageing and an experienced list,” King said on SEN Breakfast.
“There is a downside to that, regarding injury and the propensity for injury and long-term nature of those injuries at that age bracket.
“But if they can hold up and rest appropriately through the year, stack the wins early in the season, then there's no reason why Craig McRae can't do things with this list that other teams can't.
“I mean, look at how organised they were last night, particularly behind the ball, they all just understand the game.
“There are so many guys with 100+ games experience that understand situational play, what's required, whether to go fast or slow, and what the game gives you.
“They don't take excessive risks and the turnover game is in great order because no one's making calamitous mistakes.
“I just think it’s an asset that we're not talking about enough.”
On Thursday night, Collingwood restricted Brisbane to their slowest ball movement game since 2019 according to Champion Data, while also keeping them to 37 inside 50s.
King thinks that Collingwood were able to strangle Brisbane by not giving them any holes to exploit, something that he doesn’t think would be possible with a raft of young players in the line-up.
“Defensively, this is where Craig McRae's using it the most,” King said.
“The ability to leave Darcy Moore now on the second or third best opposition forward so that he can roll across, we’ve seen that, that's not revolutionary.
“But Brisbane had their slowest ball movement game since 2019 last night.
“They usually take a park, play with their eyes, make a decision, and release the ball with constant motion, they couldn't do that last night.
“I just wonder whether you can do that with a young team, defensively.
“I don't think you can because you have holes, you make mistakes. Young players run to the wrong spots because they're still learning.
“So, I think this is a real asset.”
The Magpies will go in search of their sixth straight win when they face the Bombers on Anzac Day at the MCG.
