Your Australian Football League team, Collingwood, has a story to tell.

INSIDE THE
Tim Membrey from St. Kilda, Dan Houston from Port Adelaide, Harry Perryman from GWS, Joel Cochran from the University of New South Wales Eastern Suburbs, Charlie West from Woodville-West Torrens, and Will Hayes from Claremont are the candidates.

IN THE OUTS
Joe Richards (Port Adelaide), Nathan Murphy (retired), John Noble (Gold Coast), Jack Bytel (delisted), Josh Carmichael (retired), Nathan Kreuger (delisted), Aiden Begg (delisted), and Josh Eyre (delisted) are the men who have been delisted because they have retired.

WHAT ARE THE STRENGTHS?
As long as you’ve got a bloke by the name of Nick Daicos wandering about, you’re almost always going to be contending for a finals position, and this year should be no exception for the Magpies. It is difficult to find a player in the history of the league who has had a more remarkable first three years than Daicos. A knee injury most likely prevented him from winning a Brownlow in his second season. In the previous year, he broke the record for the number of votes received (38), but unfortunately for him, Carlton skipper Patrick Cripps also broke the record (45). Daicos, who is only 22 years old, is already considered to be one of the finest players in the tournament. During the previous season, he disproved the notion that he prefers an easy pass on the outside by leading his club in both contested possessions and clearances by significant margins. Both of those categories were in which he finished third and sixth in the league, respectively. Daicos is a member of a rather powerful midfield nucleus that also includes Scott Pendlebury, Jordan De Goey, Josh Daicos, Jack Crisp, and Steele Sidebottom. Additionally, Darcy Cameron, who has emerged as one of the most talented ruckmen in the competition, is also a member of this nucleus. When you consider that the Magpies have players such as Jeremy Howe, Darcy Moore, Brayden Maynard, Isaac Quaynor, Beau McCreery, Daniel McStay, Jamie Elliott, Brody Mihocek, and Bobby Hill, you can see that they still have the potential to be a strong team. Additionally, they were successful in their recruitment efforts throughout the offseason, as evidenced by the arrival of gun defender Harry Perryman from GWS, multiple All-Australian Dan Houston from Port Adelaide, and St. Kilda goalkicker Tim Membrey. Because the Magpies were the best tackling team in the Australian Football League (AFL) in the previous season, it was impossible to doubt their intention and attack on the man. However, this also likely meant that their opponents were obtaining an excessive amount of possession of the ball, which meant that Collingwood was forced to chase the ball an excessive amount of the time.

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THE FAILURES AND WEAKNESSES
When you have the ninth-best offence and the sixth-worst defence, qualifying for the top eight is always going to be a difficult task. The Magpies had a dismal defence of their championship last year, and thus, they did not make it to the finals. After earning the title of kings of the close ones in Craig McRae’s first two years as head coach, they only won 55 percent of games decided by 12 points or less last season (6-3-2). This was due to the fact that they lost the aura of invincibility that they could come back from anywhere. This was especially true during a four-game block towards the end of the year that saw them lose to Gold Coast, Essendon, Geelong, and most significantly, Hawthorn (by 11 goals) in consecutive matches. In a nutshell, Collingwood needs to increase the frequency with which it touches the ball, since they finished the previous season ranked sixteenth and seventeenth, respectively, in terms of disposals and marks. The only teams that were ranked lower than the Magpies for touches were Richmond and West Coast, which were also outliers. In addition, Collingwood finished tenth in terms of contested marks and ninth in terms of marks within the fifty-yard line. The club will be hoping that McStay and Membrey, who are both back in shape, will be able to offer more assistance to players like Cameron and Hill in both of these categories. The Pies were largely let down by their star-studded midfield last year, which could only assist in ensuring that their team finished 2024 in 12th place for inside 50s, after coming in 12th and eighth respectively for contested possessions and clearances. However, getting it into the forward line on a regular basis is a necessity if those categories are to receive improvement. On the other hand, Collingwood was forced to play with a makeshift front line for a significant portion of the previous season due to the fact that they were plagued by injuries in that particular area of the field. The following players lost substantial amounts of time: McStay (18 games), Mihocek (12 games), De Goey (10 games), Elliott (eight games), Mason Cox (seven games), and McCreery (six games). Additionally, top midfielder Tom Mitchell (17 games) also missed a significant amount of time. Collingwood has not only the oldest list in the competition, with an average age of 26.4 years, which is an entire year older than the second-ranked Brisbane (25.4), but it is also comfortably the most experienced team with an average of 102 games per player, which is 16 games more than the Lions, who have 86 games. As a result, this is not necessarily a weakness. However, with 10 players aged 30 or older and another two hitting that milestone during the season, Collingwood has. This is undoubtedly a hazardous list tactic, especially considering that they did not make it to the finals the previous year. However, it is possible that this is the thing that drives them to the depths of September this year.

TO KEEP AN EYE ON
There is a lot of competition for Nick Daicos. The phenom has been extremely unfortunate in that he has not been able to achieve Brownlow glory over the past two years, and this may serve as an additional motivating element for him to achieve even greater heights in the year 2025. Despite the fact that he has already been very good, he is still on an upward trajectory, and it is likely that he has not yet even reached his maximum potential. It is important to note that he not only had outright career-best averages in contested possessions (14), clearances (eight), scoring involvements (seven), inside 50s (six), and centre clearances (three) during the previous season, but he also had averages of 31 disposals and four tackles for the second year in a row. The only limit is the sky.

OPPOSITE OF THE PUMP
Former first-round choice Fin Macrae is under a great deal of pressure as he enters the final year of his contract. This comes after four seasons in which he failed to live up to expectations. Despite the fact that he has only played in 21 games to this point, he is currently playing for a club that has been competing for premierships. As a result, he has no choice but to have a breakthrough year in 2025. If he does not consistently carve out a place for himself in the side, then it will be difficult for him to maintain his position on the list the following year.

Jeremy Howe, Darcy Moore, and Brayden Maynard are the best 23 B players.
Dan Houston, Billy Frampton, and Isaac Quaynor are the members of the House of Representatives.
For the letter C: Josh Daicos, Scott Pendlebury, and Jack Crisp
Jamie Elliott, Beau McCreery, and Daniel McStay are high-flying.
In the letter F: Brody Mihocek, Tim Membrey, and Bobby Hill
“R” stands for Darcy Cameron, Nick Daicos, and Jordan De Goey.
Steele Sidebottom, Harry Perryman, Mason Cox, Patrick Lipinski, and Lachie Schultz are among those that made an appearance.
Tom Mitchell, Will Hoskin-Elliott, and Wil Parker are the ones who emerge.

Houston is positioned directly onto a half-back flank, and the forward line appears to be more streamlined as a result of the inclusion of McStay and Membrey. Mitchell is now rehabilitating from a bone stress injury and will most likely be eased back into the lineup when he is able to do so. However, it is hoped that Mitchell will ultimately return to the team after playing through a string of injuries in 2024.