Guardian Australia predicts Collingwood to finish 2016 in 4-6th position ...

[Cannibal]

http://www.theguardian.com/sport/2016/mar/17/2016-afl-season-preview-collingwood-and-gws-giants

Collingwood

2015 ladder position: 12th

2016 predicted ladder range: 4-6th

[BTW, the journalist who wrote the series, @rustyjacko , is well worth taking notice of if you use Twitter.]

FWIW, all predictions Jacko has made are [subsequently edited to add all the full ladder predictions]:

Blooooos 18th in 2015, 2016 16-18th
Brions 17th in 2015, 2016 16-18th
Suns 16th in 2015, 2016 13-16th
Bumblers 15th in 2015, 2016 16-18th
St Blunda 14th in 2015, 2016 13-15th
Melbum 13th in 2015, 2016 13-15th
Collingwood 12th in 2015, 2016 4-6th
GWS 11th in 2015, 2016 10-12th
Geelong 10th in 2015, 2016 7-9th
Port Adelaide 9th in 2015, 2016 4-6th
North Melbourne 8th in 2015, 2016 7-9th
Adelaide 7th in 2015, 2016 10-12th
Western Bulldogs 6th in 2015, 4-6th in 2016
Richmond 5th in 2015, 2016 10-12th
Sydney 4th in 2015, 1st-3rd
Hawthorn 3rd in 2015, 1st-3rd
West Coast 2nd in 2015, 1st-3rd
Fremantle 1st in 2015, 7-9th

Credit to @rustyjacko for saying this in his prediction for Collingwood:

"If any side from outside last season’s eight finds itself in a preliminary final this year, it could well be the Pies."

I'll drink to that!

[Edit: In discussion with @rustyjacko on Twitter this morning, he has told me that the series of articles is being published in 2015 ladder finishing order, not rising 2016 order that it had appeared to be to me. I stand corrected on that.]

[Edit: I have now added the 2015 finishing positions following discussion with @rustyjacko about the order in which he was writing his series.]

 

[Cousin of Daicos]

I feel most of us believe this is a possibility should ALL things required go right.

It's just that a lot needs to go right.

 

[sr36]

http://www.theguardian.com/sport/2016/mar/17/2016-afl-season-preview-collingwood-and-gws-giants


I suspect that @rustyjacko might have originally intended to place Collingwood to finish outside the Eight, given their appearance in his series of articles this morning, but credit to him for saying this in his prediction:

"If any side from outside last season’s eight finds itself in a preliminary final this year, it could well be the Pies."

I'll drink to that!

The order of clubs appears to be based solely on last year's ladder position.

 

[Cannibal]

The order of clubs appears to be based solely on last year's ladder position.

I have edited my original post following a discussion with @rustyjacko on Twitter this morning, sr36, as he has told me that his series of articles is indeed coming out based on 2015 finishing order. It had appeared to me that the articles had been coming out based on predicted 2016 order instead, but I stand corrected now.

 

[MJC23]

Would be a huge effort for us to finish 4-6. It's not out of the equation but I think realistically if we are to play finals we will be finishing in the 6-8 region. Happy to be proven wrong though.

 

[Tarkyn_24]

Would be a huge effort for us to finish 4-6. It's not out of the equation but I think realistically if we are to play finals we will be finishing in the 6-8 region. Happy to be proven wrong though.

This is the first time since late 2013 that I'm confident we have a side capable of playing off in a prelim.

I think we'll qualify just outside the four, in fifth unfortunately. What happens from there is anyone's guess, in 2006 we looked comfortably a top four proposition and then got rolled by the eighth placed Sogs in the first week of finals. That could still happen even if we do show leaps and bounds f improvement this year.

 

[jmac70]

There is a Guardian newspaper in Australia?

 

[McCrabblett]

There is a Guardian newspaper in Australia?

The Guardian has websites (not print versions) for Australia and US, both of which have a local team of journalists generating specific content. The Australian one for example has First Dog on the Moon as their in house cartoonist. Their coverage of the US election on the US site is also not bad.

It's pretty decent, beats the shit out of anything news corp.

 

[SteeleBeams]

If all things go right, 4-6th is definitely achievable and would be the aim. In 2010 prior to the season nobody really considered us flag contenders, we just had a great run with injury, found some fresh new legs late in the season. Looking forward to this year!

 

[Scodog10]

Too many ifs in play for us to make top 4. Whereas teams like West Coast Fremantle and Hawthorn are all about the ifs required for them to miss top 4.

All things being equal a realistic positive result is a finals win with the list we've now compiled because we do still have flaws, IMO.

 

[Baltimore Jack]

There is a Guardian newspaper in Australia?

http://www.theguardian.com/australia-news

 

[Jonno94]

Reid and Elliott are top 10 players on our list, if we don't get them right we wont make top 6. I think Howe is very important as well because he offers something we don't have up forward and god knows how Cloke will perform this year.

If those 3 are fit and firing soon, we have a chance.

 

[Cannibal]

The Guardian has websites (not print versions) for Australia and US, both of which have a local team of journalists generating specific content. The Australian one for example has First Dog on the Moon as their in house cartoonist. Their coverage of the US election on the US site is also not bad.

It's pretty decent, beats the shit out of anything news corp.

The Guardian is a growing force in Australia and is the first on-line news website I visit every morning (The Age is next). Its political news is something else and, as McCrabbitt says, I can now read Guardian UK, US and Australian editions, so get plenty of news in general from it.

Footy coverage in The Guardian has been only OK so far, but seems to be growing/getting better all the time.

As I rarely buy any print newspaper any longer, I rely on news in on-line newspapers, hence how I am seeing the range of newspapers available to us on-line.

Never in a billion years would I buy any News Corpse rag, though, and I rarely even read footy news on News Corpse via Twitter. I will get the majority of footy news via The Age and Twitter, but The Guardian is growing immensely in this respect, so there will be more there in the future, I suspect.

 

[Dynamics]

http://www.theguardian.com/australia-news

That's the Australian news page of the Australian site. Which is ideal if you are after just their local content. If you go back a step you get the guardian aus website which gives you the full mix of local news, world news, sport, entertainment etc, as you would find at the front of, say The Age's website:

http://www.theguardian.com/au

 

[Ant85]

There's a bit of hype because we've won our 3 NAB Challenge games.

Media has a tendency to talk up a side that performs well in pre-season, only to see them stumble when the season begins.

I don't pay attention to NAB hype, let's see where we are at round 8.

 

[McCrabblett]

The Guardian is a growing force in Australia and is the first on-line news website I visit every morning (The Age is next). Its political news is something else and, as McCrabbitt says, I can now read Guardian UK, US and Australian editions, so get plenty of news in general from it.

Footy coverage in The Guardian has been only OK so far, but seems to be growing/getting better all the time.

As I rarely buy any print newspaper any longer, I rely on news in on-line newspapers, hence how I am seeing the range of newspapers available to us on-line.

Never in a billion years would I buy any News Corpse rag, though, and I rarely even read footy news on News Corpse via Twitter. I will get the majority of footy news via The Age and Twitter, but The Guardian is growing immensely in this respect, so there will be more there in the future, I suspect.

Their footy coverage has been drawn mostly from AP, but they are starting to do more of their own. They have a couple of staff in Aus for sports now it seems, plus they make use of freelancers which can provide some interesting perspectives.

One thing I like is they don't seem to be doing the same old same old all the time, probably due to not being part of the inner circle of Australian sports press who have long time existing biases and dependencies to maintain. So occasionally they will write the article everyone is thinking but nobody else will write.

One of my favourites was this one about the channel 9 cricket coverage

http://www.theguardian.com/sport/blog/2015/feb/13/channel-nine-destroying-cricket-legacy

Which then allowed all the others to write about it in the guise of "covering the coverage" without getting too many noses out of joint with critical stakeholders.

With Fairfax dumbing down and cutting back left right and centre (with increasing emphasis in right...Paul Sheehan, you complete ethics free omnishambles) and news crap being...well, let's face it, the foetid Randian vomitings from the deepest recesses of Rupert Murdoch's tortured psyche mixed with kind of shit Robbo believes constitutes thought but is in fact the remains of a Chicken Vindaloo caught in his mammoth belly fat folds after he passed out drunk at 11 AM composing a love sonnet to Albert, we are a bit ****ed here so I hope they continue to build.

 

[Cannibal]

Reid and Elliott are top 10 players on our list, if we don't get them right we wont make top 6. I think Howe is very important as well because he offers something we don't have up forward and god knows how Cloke will perform this year.

If those 3 are fit and firing soon, we have a chance.

Reid is set to play in the club's praccy match tomorrow (Friday) and both Bucks and Harvey have said that he will play R1 against Sydney. He is not listed on the club's Injury List at all.

Howe is a few weeks away, recovering from his broken wrist, but is now running after the foot soreness (stress injury) he was experiencing earlier. The club has rated it a Medium Term injury (minimum 2 weeks, possibly longer, but the club doesn't know exactly how long).

Elliott will be out of the training program for 3-4 weeks to to let things settle down. The club is confident that he will have a big impact this season, though.


Like everyone, I want to see all three playing as soon as possible, but I will happily accept them missing a few weeks now, if they will be fine after that. Better a few weeks at the beginning of a season than getting injured late in the season as we are charging to the Finals!

 

[danielnajdek]

I read that only 3 captains picked us to make the finals yet all 17 picked Geelong to make the finals.

 

[TradeDraft]

Who is Russel Jackson?

 

[Cannibal]

Who is Russel Jackson?

Jacko is Guardian Australia's deputy sports editor, TD.

 

[TradeDraft]

There's a bit of hype because we've won our 3 NAB Challenge games.

Media has a tendency to talk up a side that performs well in pre-season, only to see them stumble when the season begins.

I don't pay attention to NAB hype, let's see where we are at round 8.

I think NAB can give a Clue for what could happen Early in the Season but Middle and 2nd Half of the Season is still up in the Air

 

[TradeDraft]

Jacko is Guardian Australia's deputy sports editor, TD.

I never read the Guardian before so Never Heard of the Bloke and don't know IF he is a good Sport Jurno or not

 

[Kilmo]

I read that only 3 captains picked us to make the finals yet all 17 picked Geelong to make the finals.

How could they not after the highly publicised move of an elite B&F winning midfielder to their club?
If I recall correctly, they all thought Brisbane would play finals last year too after they similarly bolstered their elite midfield

 

[Pie eyed]

There is a Guardian newspaper in Australia?

Who reads Gardening Australia and why about footy?

 

[TradeDraft]

I read that only 3 captains picked us to make the finals yet all 17 picked Geelong to make the finals.

Shows how Highly Players Respect Dangerfield