Pie 4 Life
Hall of Famer
Cameron Wood
Cameron Wood is one of those players that divide supporter opinion. Some people say he’s an up-and-coming number one ruckman, while others think he’s a dud who should have been delisted. Either way, it was hard for even the greatest cynic to not see some improvement in ‘Woody’ this year.
Cameron Wood has become accustomed to not playing consecutive weeks, playing his first back-to-back game in Round 10 once it was confirmed Darren Jolly would be out injured for a little while. He played four games in a row, before ‘Jolls’ came back in and, like usual, he was the one to make way. He reappeared in Round 18 against the Gold Coast in an impressive game where he collected 15 disposals and had 27 hitouts against ex-teammate Josh Fraser and a young up-and-coming superstar in Zac Smith. It wasn’t until his Round 23 game against Fremantle that had a few people thinking ‘we could have a player here’, booting three goals, having five inside 50s and collecting 19 disposals, albeit against a much smaller opponent.
What the Fremantle match did tell the Collingwood supporter base was that a) Darren Jolly and Cameron Wood could play in the same team, rotating as forwards, and b) Wood is a viable forward target, especially when the two monsters of Cloke and Dawes are in the forward 50.
Unfortunately for Wood, like Toovey and Maxwell, he tends to have that “scape-goat” look about him, which usually sees him off-side with the supporter base. For him though, he managed to improve his around-the-ground work, which was close to nil before 2011, and his overhead marking, which made many supporters cringe in previous years. His goal kicking improved as the year went on, but unfortunately had feel the wrath of missing the goal to defeat Geelong in Round 8. Improvements Wood could make include his strength around the contest and his disposal efficiency, although like many poor kicks, he has discovered that handballing can fix it all. For Cameron Wood, I see him cementing a best 22 spot next year with Leigh Brown gone, and I am confident he can play the number #1 ruck role if and when Darren Jolly is unavailable.
