Collingwood Magpies: Dream Team Preview

This is the next of our submitted Club Dream Team Previews. Thanks to Pie Man for sending this one in! You will receive a stubby holder and if your article is one of the two that gets the most Facebook “Likes’ (just above this blurb), you’ll get yourself an AFL Prospectus! Read on!

2010 was the year the ‘Pies broke a 20 year drought and showed to the AFL world they would be a force for the next 3 to 4 years! They also pulled out a lot of dream team guns such as the usuals of Swan, Pendlebury and Didak but they also had a lot of players who had break out years in the dream team world and Dale Thomas is a great example of that!

The 2011 list is a lot different to the 2010 one. Yes they still have all there premiership players but they have lost the likes of Presti, Lockyer, Fraser, Medhurst, O’Bree and Jack Anthony which gave them a lot more room to bring new faces into the club. The two biggest are of course former favourite son Chris Tarrant who returns after 4 seasons with the Dockers and Andrew Krakouer who was a dream team slut in the WAFL and knows what its like at AFL level too, playing 102 games and kicking 102 goals for Richmond.

A few young blokes who just came off the rookie list are Lachlan Keefe and Tom Young. These two kids won’t play round 1 but look out for them as a downgrade option later on in the season!

Collingwood’s byes are in rounds 7 and 13 so thats great to get those byes over and done with early in the year.

Collingwood will make the top four again and will start the season premiership favourites as they deserve to so you expecte them to have a lot of great dream teamers once again. We might even see some more break out seasons from some younger players such as Sidebottom, Beams, Wellingham etc etc.

Defenders

Collingwood probably have the strongest backline in the AFL but not so many of them are great dream teamers. Your O’Brien’s and Maxwell’s will only average about 60 at most and your Reid’s and Brown’s will average even less. The only ones I would even think about picking are Heath Shaw and Chris Tarrant as a smokie.

The last two seasons I have been sucked into Shaw as he is a great player and has a lot of dream team potential. He is priced at about $334k and last year showed he can score well with his best scores being 143 and 111 but he can also be shocking with scores of 48, 49, 50 and 51.
While Taz still hasn’t got a spot in the pies best 22, if he is named round one he might not only play down back but he might also play along the wing and up forward. But at 30 and with a recent history of injuries he would be a HUGE risk! Anyway I will pass on all Collingwood backmen.

Midfielders

This is where you will find a lot of Collingwood’s best dream teamers. Lets start with Dane Swan! He is the best dream teamer in the league, in fact he is probably the best dream teamer of all time (sorry Gaz and Bucks). The last 5 years he has averaged 102, 102,103 then an amazing 119 and 123! This guy is a a must for all teams! Like Calvin says its like picking two players because you just put the C on him every week!

Scott Pendlebury is the next player I am going to talk about. This guy is simply a gun! He averaged 98 in 2009 which is pretty good but he didn’t become one of the best in the league till last year where he averaged 106. The only problem with him (and the rest of the players I am about to name) is that with the byes you pretty much only want one Collingwood player in your midfield and almost everyone will have Swan so Pendles could be a good upgrade option after Collingwood’s 2nd bye!

Dale Thomas was a lock in my team until I found out he was only named as a midfielder and not a forward but if you are looking for an unique pick he could be your man! Last year was his break out year where he averaged 95 and this year I reckon he can go a step higher and average 100 plus. He showed he really is a big time player in the two grand finals. If there was a Norm Smith Medalist for both of the Grand Finals put together Thomas probably would have just beaten Goddard. He got scores of 135 and 112.

Then you have your three young guns who could be ready for break out year in Sidebottom, Beams and Wellingham. The whole dream team world was disappointed when we found out Sidebottom was named only as a midfielder but at his price you still need to think about him! He is coming into his 3rd season and we all know what thats means! This boy is going to be an out and out gun both as a player and dream teamer! At just 19 years of age he almost won the Norm Smith Medal in the replay and he made sure it counted in dream team as well getting 113 points! Like Thomas he is a big game player, we knew that before he even started in the AFL when he kicked 10 goals and got 30 something touches in the TAC Cup Grand Final!

Beams is also coming into his 3rd year as well and like Sidebottom its disappointing he isn’t named as a forward! But still this kid can play! He averaged 76 in his first year and last year averaged 87! Not bad! Don’t be surprised if he can average 95 plus this year! Keep an eye on his pre season.

Wellingham is coming into his 4th year and last year showed a lot of promise averaging 81 and getting some pretty good scores of 123, 112, 110 and 102. I reckon this year he will take another step and average 90 plus and be another unique pick!
Also another player you should watch is Luke Ball who averaged 92 in his first season at the pies and he will be looking to improve again (95 plus average). He will be priced at about 385k. You can also pick Didak and Krakouer in the midfield but I will talk about them in the forwards!

Rucks

The only one worth talking about here is Darren Jolly. Everyone is talking about Sandilands, Cox, Fraser etc etc but this man derseves a thought! He had a rough start to last year as he was just getting use to a new club but after round 10 he averaged a very good 90 points pre game to prove he is a premium ruckmen!

Forwards

Probably the best magpie named as a forward is Alan Didak. The last three years he has averaged 95, 103 and 99. Although he hasn’t had a great pre season so far, recovering from that shoulder injury which he played the whole finals series with. I did hear he is back on track though so watch his NAB cup form!

The man who everyone is talking about in the dream team world is Andrew Krakouer. I have heard a lot of people say this man will be the next Michael Barlow. Well lets get this straight, there will never be another Michael Barlow. Andy K as I like to call him has to prove in the NAB cup that he deserves a spot for round 1. Personally I reckon he will and I think he will have a good season. I am thinking maybe an average of 85 plus. He was never a big scorer for Richmond but he will get a lot more midfield time at the pies.

One of my real smokies for this year is Brad Dick. This kid is easily in Collingwood’s best 22 when he is fit and going! But yes he is made from lego. In his only full game last year he kicked four goals to help Collingwood draw with Melbourne. Thats really showing the kids got talent. He could be fighting with Krakouer for a spot in the 22 but I can see them both playing round 1. Dickie will be as cheap as chips and deserves to be thought about even though he is a bit risky.

Sorry to do this to you Roy but Neon Leon Davis is my last player I am going to talk about! Remember back to 2009 when he averaged an amazing 99 and the year before when he averaged 84! It shows that when he is at his best he is a jet! I still reckon last years bad form was due to injury and playing up forward a lot more. If he can get his body right and play a lot more time in the middle again he will be a bargin! So watch what Mick does with him in the NAB cup and if he is named round 1 really think about him. At this point I will probably pass but you never know! Like really, when to you ever come across someone who is around 230k who averaged 99 just a couple of years ago!?

Thanks for reading,
from PieMan.