Collingwood 2011 = Essendon 2001?

[OzBomber]

So much similar between the two.

- Both reigning premiers
- Both dominated earlier in the season then suffered form slumps towards the end.
- Struggled in the prelim to get through.
- Carried injured players into the granny.

And the granny went a similar way as well. Trailed at the first break then came out firing in the 2nd before fading in the 2nd half.

Will they be able to keep all of their stars or will they demand more money?

Thoughts?

Edit: Didn't even realise 'The Great Barry Besanko' posted nearly exactly the same thing on the main board.

 

[Debating Society]

Add in prelim losses 99 - 09
premiership wins 00 -10
runner up 01 - 11

 

[stay true]

I'm loading up on the Pies to finish 6th next year then.

 

[OzBomber]

I'm loading up on the Pies to finish 6th next year then.

Then if history repeats itself then you'll be losing all of that money because we finished 5th not 6th.

 

[doug85]

Yes, very much so. Collingwood's also going to feel a pinch from the salary cap just as we did, though probably not to the same extent.

 

[Oliver09]

The only difference is that they weren't as good as us & didn't have the injuries we had, despite what the press would have you believe.

 

[Towno78]

Meh, not sure bout that.
2001 was the third consecutive year of us being the best team in the comp producing just the 1 premiership.
Collingwood have only been there 2 years, and I can't see them not being there going forward. If they dominate next year and miss out again I'd be more inclined to start drawing parallels then.

 

[fishardansin]

Yes it did. I mentioned this during the week as they've had that vibe for the last month now. I don't think that they'll fall away like we did after that though. They wont wrongly assume that their equivalent to Hird will go onto the veteran list and then be left in a situation where they have to fire sell off a few of their better second stringers.

The other thing is that they actually had a mini rebuild at the end of last year when they moved on Lockyer, Fraser and a few others. This is why their depth this year wasn't as good as popular perception. However, this will make them stronger in the near future. They need to do something about their ruck stocks with Leigh Brown going and they need to be confident enough to play Cameron Wood ahead of Jolley when he is injured like that.

Next year they'll get back Brown also so they'll have a very good spine with three good tall backs and two good tall forwards.

If the team they played yesterday was all fit and you could drop Blair, Didak and Maxwell for Brown, Dick and Beams you would have a serious side on your hands. Probably flag favourites. Of course they could get a lot of injuries early next year and lose confidence and not really challenge at all.

This long ramble is just trying to say that yes Collingwood this year felt very similar to Essendon 01 but I don't think their future will be what Essendon's was after that point.

 

[Vass38]

Certainly are some similarities there.
Both teams had won the year before and had been dominant favourates to win the flag all year but lost form towards the end of the season and didnt perform in finals.
There was still enough quality players at the Dons in 2002 with Hird, Lloyd, J.Johnson running around to finish 5th, and I think Collingwood will finish 5th or so in 2012 given they have the likes of Swan, Cloke & Pendlebury, though cant see them making a premiership again next year.
There are a lot of similarities between some of the players also - i.e. Didak 2011 reminds me a lot of Mercuri in 2001, great players who had started to go off the boil and were never able to recapture their early career form.

 

[Slattery_20]

Change (Buckley) will be good for them IMHO. We were stagnant.