2020 is the most frustrating year I can remember enduring as a Collingwood fan.
We've had worse years - much, much worse years - but none have been quite so infuriatingly difficult to sit through. We played off in a grand final two years ago, fell a couple of points short of doing the same last year. Our list, on exposed evidence, should have been top four material. We should have been better than this.
We weren't.
No doubt the bizarre circumstances in which season 2020 was played contributed to the team's downfall, but it was painful viewing for most of the Collingwood season. After three strong performances to start the year, not once did we kick more than 10 goals for the remainder of the home and away season. Our losses were ugly, dour, disjointed messes, plagued with awful decision making, excruciatingly slow ball movement, and woeful skill execution. Our players looked confused, hesitant, completely devoid of any confidence. Even our wins were riddled with basic, schoolboy-level, rage-inducing blunders. Honestly, at times we looked downright stupid. We were so, so dumb with ball in hand on so, so many occasions. And structurally speaking, the gameplan devolved into a dysfunctional mess of ultra-defensive, risk-averse, slow-play footy.
Save for one exceptional performance in the West, there was so little to get excited about as a supporter.
The annihilations at the hands of West Coast in round 8, Melbourne in round 12, and Geelong in tonight's semi-final were up there with the worst Collingwood performances since the turn of the millenium. This side has been pummelled before, and will be again, but the completely uncompetitive nature of those three games in particular is something we haven't seen since the Tony Shaw days. On three occasions this year, our club came up so far short of its opposition that it genuinely smacked of a lack of effort. On three occasions this season, it felt like Collingwood's brand was: if it's too hard, don't try. Even on the occasions when the effort was clearly there, Collingwood's brand could best be described as "laborious and boring". The excitement this outfit played with in 2018 was nowhere to be found in 2020.
All in all, it was tough viewing this year.
THE RATINGS
THE BEST OF 2020
1. Taylor Adams
2. Darcy Moore
3. Brayden Maynard
4. Scott Pendlebury
5. Josh Daicos
Honourable mentions: Brodie Mihocek, Jamie Elliott, Jack Crisp, John Noble, Jeremy Howe (he played more great games in his four outings than many of his teammates managed for the whole season).
THE WORST OF 2020
5. Will Hoskin-Elliott
4. Tom Phillips
3. Jayden Stephenson
2. Callum Brown
1. Josh Thomas
Also not great: Darcy Cameron, Rupert Wills, Travis Varcoe, Chris Mayne, Jordan Roughead, Adam Treloar, Brodie Grundy.
Taylor Adams - 9/10. He led from the front with courage and desperation all year long. He's our only genuine inside midfielder, and what he lacks in finesse he makes up for with an intensity and fierceness that no other player in our side has. He hits every contest at full tilt, tackles to hurt, and would die for the jumper. His season was encapsulated in his desperate, full-body smother to prevent the Eagles stealing yet another finals win from us. An AA guernsey is just reward for our next captain. Forget a key forward, we desperately need to find another bullocking mid of his quality.
Darcy Moore - 9/10. Darcy was pure class all season. Even his worst performances still saw him blanket a dangerous opposition forward. His best outings, on the other hand, saw him mark everything in sight and set up innumerable forward thrusts from his back half. His dominant game against a cocky Blues outfit was a real highlight. Thoroughly deserving of his first AA guernsey. I'm in the minority, but I think there's another AA jumper waiting for him at CHF if the club is gutsy enough to abandon its all-out-defence mentality and let him roam the forward 50 instead. He'd instantly become one of the top five forwards in the league, with scope to become the best of them all. But whichever end he plays at, he's an out-and-out star.
Brayden Maynard - 8/10. His last month or so just took the gloss off what was almost a perfect season - starting with the Gold Coast game, a few of the silly mistakes he was known for in his first couple of seasons started creeping back into his game. Shanked kick-ins, foolish attempts to play on, general brainfades. Outside of that, he was as close to the perfect small defender as you could hope to see: uncompromisingly tough, just as hard at the ball as the man, cannon of a left boot, clean hands, courageous almost to a fault. He'll only get better from here, and he's already one of our most important players.
Scott Pendlebury - 8/10. He remained one of the stalwarts of the midfield at 32 years of age. The way he's playing, he could give 400 games a shout. He had a run of games through the middle of the year where he put himself into AA consideration. Like most of the team this season, he struggled to hit the scoreboard with only one goal, but the rest of his game was as strong as ever. There's not much to say that hasn't already been said, other than to reiterate that we're lucky to see one of the best ever ply his trade.
Josh Daicos - 8/10. The feel-good story of the year. Started slowly against the Doggies, then got going late with two last quarter goals... and by the time we saw him again in round two, he was a different player. Before this year, most had Cal Brown ahead of him. Many more had Daics delisted by 2020's end. A few months later and we're looking at a kid who averaged 18 possessions, never wasted one, competed hard on the inside, showed the best pair of clean hands in the side, and kicked 10 goals from a wing - more than any other midfielder. Amongst those was a dad-style GOTY, a ridiculous tackle-opponent-strip-ball-shrug-opponent-slam-it-through number, and half a dozen classy snaps on both feet in traffic. He's fast become our most reliable decision-maker, our best kick, and our creative spark. Even in tonight's abomination he managed to hit Mihocek on the tit with a perfectly weighted I50 pass into a nest of Cats. Josh is the Collingwood story of 2020.
Jamie Elliott - 7/10. Was given an almost purely midfield role for most of the season, and applied himself pretty darn well for the most part - culminating in a dominant clearance effort against the WCE when none of his teammates could get their hands on the ball at stoppages. He does a lot of things right through the middle of the ground - clean hands, turn of speed, contested ball-winning ability. And yet... I really do miss those traits up forward. For all his hard work through the centre(and he's one who always gives 110%), he only averaged 12 possessions. He just doesn't rack up the footy naturally. I like him in bursts at the stoppages, but I'm firmly of the view that Jamie is a forward flanker. I'd be moving him back there permanently in 2021.
Jack Crisp - 7/10. Consistent all year long, as usual, but Jack never really hit the heights of his 2018/19 campaigns. He wasn't far off by any stretch - still very good for the most part - but we've grown accustomed to seeing Crispy dominate across the HBF, whereas this year I felt that outside of the Crows game, he was just "good". Had some calamitous moments in defence in the "unholy trinity" of games against West Coast, Melbourne and Geelong (as did all of his teammates, for that matter), but he's still one of the first picked every single week. 2020 wasn't Jack's absolute best, but it was still solid.
John Noble - 7/10. A really strong year from the little man. I loved what he brought in the back half of the season, providing run, carry, speed and determination to a side that was looking decidedly slow and indecisive. Standout performances against Carlton, Brisbane, Gold Coast, and then West Coast in the final really solidified him as a reliable back pocket. Was shown up for size, not endeavour, tonight, but he's one of those players you know you'll get every last drop of effort from. A lot to build on for John in 2021.
Jeremy Howe - 7/10 (I guess?). How do you rate this man's year? By what metric? He played four games (more like 3.9 games, technically), missed the next sixteen, and yet... he was still one of our better-performed players for our whole season. Those four games taken in isolation are probably worthy of an 11/10 rating. It was insane watching him dominate both in the air and on the deck, the distribute with pinpoint precision. For that month, he was the best defender in the competition, and it wasn't even close. Let's all pray that his knee won't hold him back from becoming the AA gun we all know he is in 2021. His impact - and subsequent loss - can't be underestimated.
Brodie Mihocek - 6/10. Checkers is the heart and soul of this team. He's also its leading goalkicker with 25 on the year. But there's no doubt that Brodie felt the effects of a team that lost its systems and couldn't quite get them right. Despite his efforts, he often went missing, along with all his forwardline colleagues, due solely to the fact that the ball wasn't being delivered with any semblance of speed or intelligence. I imagine the only thing more frustrating than watching the Collingwood front half in 2020 was playing in it. His QF heroics were just about the highlight of the year. I hope he stays, and I hope we can find another tall target to free him up a bit more too.
Brodie Grundy - 6/10. Turned from the league's best big man into a bog-standard AFL ruckman. He must have been carrying something, despite the club's insistence otherwise. How else would you explain getting beaten by Rhys Stanley, or Oscar McDonald, or Andrew ****ing Phillips? Still tried his absolute guts out, because that's what Brodie does, but he just couldn't compete to his usual standard. The most pressing task for the club as a whole is to sort out the hopeless disconnect between Brodie's palm and our midfield brigade. It's been diabolically bad since the 2019 prelim, and we've lost a lot of games because of it.
Jordan De Goey - 6/10. Another year cruelled by injury, this time a finger of all things. Was just getting going with 5 goals against Geelong when he got hurt, and came back with a bang to kick 4 against Gold Coast and seal a finals berth for the club on his return. Also kicked two huge goals against West Coast to win a final. He has what most of our forwards lack: game-winning impact. If we can ever see him at his uninterrupted best, it could be a scary proposition. As for this year, it was yet another "what could have been".
Isaac Quaynor - 6/10. He leaked a few goals defensively this year, but I thought IQ was a revelation off half-back for us. His dash, his willingness to take the game on, and those scything, low, right-footed bullets were a joy to behold. He also displayed considerable aerial ability, regularly outpointing his similarly sized opponents to snare an intercept mark. And he's only 20 years old. He's tracking as one of the most exciting prospects we've had on our lists in the last decade. Before this year I was hopeful but not sold; now I'm excited for just how good he can become.
Steele Sidebottom - 5/10. Was a solid, sometimes brilliant citizen when on the park this year. But he loses big points for a foolish a COVID brainfade, and forfeits the chance to earn those credits back thanks to a poorly-timed conception. Everything conspired to ensure that 2020 was arguably the least productive year in Steele's entire career. He's still one of the more natural goalkickers in the squad, and would look good on a flank utilizing his exceptional tank and equally exceptional creativity. We need a big 2021 from him, badly.
Adam Treloar - 5/10. Adam had injury problems of his own, but even when he was on the park, he wasn't playing great footy. His form was fumbly, rushed and panicky, and we saw him putting teammates under immense pressure with hospital handpasses rather than taking the game on himself. He resorted to blatant throws on three separate occasions in pressure situations, most notably against Essendon and Freo, the latter arguably costing us the game. He really seemed to lose his cool, and embodied that feeling of disjointed, disconnected calamity that our whole team suffered. He hasn't been the same since the double hammy injury, sadly, and may never be again. He's stopped hurting teams on the outside, and though he racks up the possessions and runs all day, he's nothing special without his now-absent line-breaking ability.
Mason Cox - 5/10. Started decently against the Dogs, but upon the season's resumption, something wasn't right with him. It's hard to say whether it was injury-related, attitudinal, or just the team's devolution into a dour, defensive mess that cruelled him. I thought he was finished. But, remarkably, he found something, clawed his way back, salvaged his season, and may have saved his career. Had a pretty strong last month in which he looked like our best tall forward against Brisbane, Gold Coast and West Coast. He started clunking contested grabs again. And, unbelievably, despite being dropped for most of the year, he still ended as our second-leading goalkicker. (Yes, that probably says more about our other forwards than it does about Mason).
Tyler Brown - 5/10. He's still very underdeveloped to be playing at the highest level, but Tyler had enough impressive moments this season to make you think he's gonna be a special talent. Whether winning a contested ball in traffic, or breaking a tackle of someone twice his size, or dishing out a Nate Fyfe style handpass, you can tell he has that X factor. Strong games against St Kilda, Carlton and Gold Coast are a great foundation for him to build on. He's still just a baby. Let's hope both Brown boys have the same physical explosion that their dad did in his early 20's.
Trey Ruscoe - 5/10. Hard to rate off such a small sample size, but he has a knack of kicking goals, something which many of our other forwards seem to have forgotten how to do. Was thoroughly impressed by his physicality and agility, which is just about as good as you'll see in an 18-year-old. He'll develop into a physical beast, and if he can keep that knack of popping up in the right places, could become something really special. To get any games at all this year was a great effort; to kick five goals is fantastic for him.
Jordan Roughead - 5/10. A strange old year for Jordan, one in which he seemed to lack the requisite intensity. It felt like he was a step off the pace for a lot of the season. He was part of a defence that got demolished a few times, and had more bags kicked on him than usual. I get the feeling he was doing it tough with being away from home - I seem to recall his partner may have been an at-risk person in regards to COVID. He played like he was battling something, but kudos to him for sticking it out.
Jack Madgen - 4/10. He lost a point or two on tonight's effort. He had been building over the last couple of months into a reliable defender who regularly beat his man and got the ball going the other way; tonight he put in one of the all-time terrible finals performances. Lax defending, bad positioning, horrible kicking, attempting to shrug off a tackle from Patrick ****ing Dangerfield... ugh. It's a real shame for Jack. It hurt to watch him out there.
Chris Mayne - 4/10. He once again demonstrated his unquestionable courage in 2020 by getting his eye socket caved in. I'll always love the Mayne Man for the bravery he displays every time he runs out. But he looked a step slower in 2020, and a moment more hesitant, and a fraction more cautious, and all of it added up to a player who was indecisive and detrimental to the team when he had the footy. The pace with which he moves the ball just kills us offensively. I'll never question his commitment. I just hope he is phased out of the squad by more exciting youngsters.
Levi Greenwood - 4/10. His season was pretty much written off due to injury, but it was nice to see him fight his way back and claim a few scalps late in the season, most notably that of Tim Kelly. I'm a huge fan of the hardness he brings, but he seemed to lack a yard of pace and struggled to find the footy this season. That could be entirely injury-related, or it could be father time catching up with the Pig. I'm not sure if he goes around again.
Travis Varcoe - 3/10. Didn't get on the park a whole lot, and didn't look up to the pace of it when he did. He's been an absolute favourite of mine at the Pies, and I'll always remember him for his 2018 finals series heroics off the back of personal tragedy. As for 2020, it's looking pretty likely that his time is up.
Tom Phillips - 3/10. 2020's shortened quarters took away Flippa's one wood - his insane endurance running - and as a result, he came crashing back to earth with a thud. Bizarrely used as a small forward for chunks of the season, he was regularly beaten in contested ball and made bad decisions when placed under pressure (most memorably an errant handpass in the centre of the Gabba that missed his teammate by five metres and put Brisbane in on goal). Two years ago it looked like he was the next big thing; now, it looks like he's no guarantee to get games. Fingers crossed the longer game time in 2021 allows him to find his form at AFL level once again.
Darcy Cameron - 3/10. He played decent games against Adelaide, and against West Coast in the final... but other than that, he struggled to perform at AFL level. He looked better as a ruck than a forward, where his positioning was all at sea. He can pluck a contested grab when he's in the contest, but he so often finds himself where the ball isn't. As a ruck he's behind Grundy, and as a forward he's comfortably behind Mihocek and Cox, so it's hard to see him adding much value to the side. Might be worth keeping around as backup ruck, but I'm getting decidedly Chris Bryan / Guy Richards vibes.
Rupert Wills - 2/10. After filling a role with strong tackling and clearance work late in 2019, I had high hopes that Rupe could bring a hard-nosed edge to our midfield. Sadly, besides one good outing against the Hawks, his game was riddled with fumbles, double-grabs and poor skill execution. He still brought defensive intent for the most part, but all other aspects of his game fell away sharply, leaving a player who looked a clear rung below the level.
Will Hoskin-Elliott - 2/10. The first of the "Swoop Squad" to fall off the face of the planet in 2020. Our entire brigade of small/medium forwards have felt the impact of our stagnant, systemless ball movement, but perhaps none more so than WHE. He thrives on space, pace and chaos; our gameplan, or lack thereof, currently possesses none of these elements. 42 goals in 2018... 11 goals in 2020. He was beaten by almost every opponent who played on him. As we'll see, this is a theme for our small forwards...
Jayden Stephenson - 2/10. 38 goals in his debut year... 14 in 2020. Jayden's confidence took a battering this year. It was hard to watch. He was struggling and the whole football world could see. Like a lot of his teammates, he played scared and confused, not brave enough to take the game on, too indecisive to make the play. What we got was a kid who was constantly second-guessing himself, taking the wrong option, backing out of contests. And yet despite all this, he still kicked our equal-second-most majors. I get the feeling he's the sort who needs to be around family to be happy. This year robbed him of that; hopefully we can see the sort of flair which won him a rising star return in 2021.
Callum Brown - 1/10. Cal took a huge step backwards this year. In 2019, we were seeing flashes of a player with electrifying burst speed, an incredible sidestep, and manic attack on the ball. This season, we saw a confused, hesitant, undersized flanker who couldn't stick a tackle or win a hard ball. He played the defensive forward role without enough of the defensive or forward parts. What's worse, his disposal fell off a cliff, and his forward fifty entries, on the rare occasion he got them, were diabolically bad - the Brisbane game being case in point. It would be foolish to write him off - he's a Brown, after all - but Cal has gone from "promising youngster" to "playing for his career" in the space of 12 months.
Josh Thomas - 1/10. 38 goals in 2018... 4 (yep, four) goals in 2020. Ouch. No matter what he tried, poor Josh couldn't get a single thing going this season. Every single aspect of his game deserted him. He seemed to try his guts out every time he got on the park, but he couldn't win the ball, use it well, or apply defensive pressure with any kind of regularity whatsoever. His best game of the year came tonight against the Cats, standing up in a side that got smashed. Let's hope that gives him something to take into next year, if indeed he gets another year.
Too few games to rate: Ben Reid, Matthew Scharenberg, Tom Langdon, Atu Bosenavaguli, Brayden Sier, Tim Broomhead, Max Lynch, Will Kelly, Flynn Appleby, Jay Rantall, Lynden Dunn, Dayne Beams, Mark Keane, Anton Tohill, Tom Wilson.
THE COACH
Nathan Buckley: 3/10.
So ends Nathan's worst year in the job since he took the reigns. If it wasn't his team losing all semblance of structure and form, it was a controversy about ducking out for a quick hit of tennis in the middle of a global pandemic, or confronting his poor handling of an ex-Pie who felt aggrieved by a horrendously ignorant nickname.
It was no doubt a horrendously difficult year for all involved, but there's no sugarcoating the fact that Nathan didn't perform well. The gameplan fell to pieces under his watch, devolving from a free-flowing, fast-moving, attacking brand in 2018 to a dire, imaginationless, excruciatingly slow and laborious slog. His systems broke every forward on the list, with the possible exception of the gutsy Mihocek. When no other player kicks more than 14 goals, you have to start wondering... has every single forward on our list inexplicably turned to shit at once, or has the coach implemented a strategy under which no forward can realistically thrive?
The craziest thing is just how painfully obvious it is to us supporters that we need to get speed on the ball. In the one game we played on at all costs and pumped the ball forward long and direct, we pulled off the greatest finals upset in living memory. In every other game, where we tried to pinpoint one-metre handpasses in slippery conditions, where we chipped sideways at glacial pace, where we steadfastly refused to move the ball fast and direct, we looked second rate. At times, we looked like the worst team in the comp.
Whichever way you slice it, for the majority of 2020, the Collingwood we saw on the football field were a hot mess. That buck stops at... well, Bucks.
The upshot of all this is that 2021 could conceivably see us win the flag, the wooden spoon, or anything in between. We're such a schizophrenic side that literally anything is possible when we take the field. A few adjustments in the right direction and we'll be in it up to our noses; a few missteps like those we saw this season and we'll be the most frustrating side to watch in 2021, too.
Let's hope Nathan twists the dials in the right direction.
Floreat Pica, and despite all the difficulties that 2020 has brought upon all of us - Go Pies. It's been a pleasure posting with you all.
We've had worse years - much, much worse years - but none have been quite so infuriatingly difficult to sit through. We played off in a grand final two years ago, fell a couple of points short of doing the same last year. Our list, on exposed evidence, should have been top four material. We should have been better than this.
We weren't.
No doubt the bizarre circumstances in which season 2020 was played contributed to the team's downfall, but it was painful viewing for most of the Collingwood season. After three strong performances to start the year, not once did we kick more than 10 goals for the remainder of the home and away season. Our losses were ugly, dour, disjointed messes, plagued with awful decision making, excruciatingly slow ball movement, and woeful skill execution. Our players looked confused, hesitant, completely devoid of any confidence. Even our wins were riddled with basic, schoolboy-level, rage-inducing blunders. Honestly, at times we looked downright stupid. We were so, so dumb with ball in hand on so, so many occasions. And structurally speaking, the gameplan devolved into a dysfunctional mess of ultra-defensive, risk-averse, slow-play footy.
Save for one exceptional performance in the West, there was so little to get excited about as a supporter.
The annihilations at the hands of West Coast in round 8, Melbourne in round 12, and Geelong in tonight's semi-final were up there with the worst Collingwood performances since the turn of the millenium. This side has been pummelled before, and will be again, but the completely uncompetitive nature of those three games in particular is something we haven't seen since the Tony Shaw days. On three occasions this year, our club came up so far short of its opposition that it genuinely smacked of a lack of effort. On three occasions this season, it felt like Collingwood's brand was: if it's too hard, don't try. Even on the occasions when the effort was clearly there, Collingwood's brand could best be described as "laborious and boring". The excitement this outfit played with in 2018 was nowhere to be found in 2020.
All in all, it was tough viewing this year.
THE RATINGS
THE BEST OF 2020
1. Taylor Adams
2. Darcy Moore
3. Brayden Maynard
4. Scott Pendlebury
5. Josh Daicos
Honourable mentions: Brodie Mihocek, Jamie Elliott, Jack Crisp, John Noble, Jeremy Howe (he played more great games in his four outings than many of his teammates managed for the whole season).
THE WORST OF 2020
5. Will Hoskin-Elliott
4. Tom Phillips
3. Jayden Stephenson
2. Callum Brown
1. Josh Thomas
Also not great: Darcy Cameron, Rupert Wills, Travis Varcoe, Chris Mayne, Jordan Roughead, Adam Treloar, Brodie Grundy.
Taylor Adams - 9/10. He led from the front with courage and desperation all year long. He's our only genuine inside midfielder, and what he lacks in finesse he makes up for with an intensity and fierceness that no other player in our side has. He hits every contest at full tilt, tackles to hurt, and would die for the jumper. His season was encapsulated in his desperate, full-body smother to prevent the Eagles stealing yet another finals win from us. An AA guernsey is just reward for our next captain. Forget a key forward, we desperately need to find another bullocking mid of his quality.
Darcy Moore - 9/10. Darcy was pure class all season. Even his worst performances still saw him blanket a dangerous opposition forward. His best outings, on the other hand, saw him mark everything in sight and set up innumerable forward thrusts from his back half. His dominant game against a cocky Blues outfit was a real highlight. Thoroughly deserving of his first AA guernsey. I'm in the minority, but I think there's another AA jumper waiting for him at CHF if the club is gutsy enough to abandon its all-out-defence mentality and let him roam the forward 50 instead. He'd instantly become one of the top five forwards in the league, with scope to become the best of them all. But whichever end he plays at, he's an out-and-out star.
Brayden Maynard - 8/10. His last month or so just took the gloss off what was almost a perfect season - starting with the Gold Coast game, a few of the silly mistakes he was known for in his first couple of seasons started creeping back into his game. Shanked kick-ins, foolish attempts to play on, general brainfades. Outside of that, he was as close to the perfect small defender as you could hope to see: uncompromisingly tough, just as hard at the ball as the man, cannon of a left boot, clean hands, courageous almost to a fault. He'll only get better from here, and he's already one of our most important players.
Scott Pendlebury - 8/10. He remained one of the stalwarts of the midfield at 32 years of age. The way he's playing, he could give 400 games a shout. He had a run of games through the middle of the year where he put himself into AA consideration. Like most of the team this season, he struggled to hit the scoreboard with only one goal, but the rest of his game was as strong as ever. There's not much to say that hasn't already been said, other than to reiterate that we're lucky to see one of the best ever ply his trade.
Josh Daicos - 8/10. The feel-good story of the year. Started slowly against the Doggies, then got going late with two last quarter goals... and by the time we saw him again in round two, he was a different player. Before this year, most had Cal Brown ahead of him. Many more had Daics delisted by 2020's end. A few months later and we're looking at a kid who averaged 18 possessions, never wasted one, competed hard on the inside, showed the best pair of clean hands in the side, and kicked 10 goals from a wing - more than any other midfielder. Amongst those was a dad-style GOTY, a ridiculous tackle-opponent-strip-ball-shrug-opponent-slam-it-through number, and half a dozen classy snaps on both feet in traffic. He's fast become our most reliable decision-maker, our best kick, and our creative spark. Even in tonight's abomination he managed to hit Mihocek on the tit with a perfectly weighted I50 pass into a nest of Cats. Josh is the Collingwood story of 2020.
Jamie Elliott - 7/10. Was given an almost purely midfield role for most of the season, and applied himself pretty darn well for the most part - culminating in a dominant clearance effort against the WCE when none of his teammates could get their hands on the ball at stoppages. He does a lot of things right through the middle of the ground - clean hands, turn of speed, contested ball-winning ability. And yet... I really do miss those traits up forward. For all his hard work through the centre(and he's one who always gives 110%), he only averaged 12 possessions. He just doesn't rack up the footy naturally. I like him in bursts at the stoppages, but I'm firmly of the view that Jamie is a forward flanker. I'd be moving him back there permanently in 2021.
Jack Crisp - 7/10. Consistent all year long, as usual, but Jack never really hit the heights of his 2018/19 campaigns. He wasn't far off by any stretch - still very good for the most part - but we've grown accustomed to seeing Crispy dominate across the HBF, whereas this year I felt that outside of the Crows game, he was just "good". Had some calamitous moments in defence in the "unholy trinity" of games against West Coast, Melbourne and Geelong (as did all of his teammates, for that matter), but he's still one of the first picked every single week. 2020 wasn't Jack's absolute best, but it was still solid.
John Noble - 7/10. A really strong year from the little man. I loved what he brought in the back half of the season, providing run, carry, speed and determination to a side that was looking decidedly slow and indecisive. Standout performances against Carlton, Brisbane, Gold Coast, and then West Coast in the final really solidified him as a reliable back pocket. Was shown up for size, not endeavour, tonight, but he's one of those players you know you'll get every last drop of effort from. A lot to build on for John in 2021.
Jeremy Howe - 7/10 (I guess?). How do you rate this man's year? By what metric? He played four games (more like 3.9 games, technically), missed the next sixteen, and yet... he was still one of our better-performed players for our whole season. Those four games taken in isolation are probably worthy of an 11/10 rating. It was insane watching him dominate both in the air and on the deck, the distribute with pinpoint precision. For that month, he was the best defender in the competition, and it wasn't even close. Let's all pray that his knee won't hold him back from becoming the AA gun we all know he is in 2021. His impact - and subsequent loss - can't be underestimated.
Brodie Mihocek - 6/10. Checkers is the heart and soul of this team. He's also its leading goalkicker with 25 on the year. But there's no doubt that Brodie felt the effects of a team that lost its systems and couldn't quite get them right. Despite his efforts, he often went missing, along with all his forwardline colleagues, due solely to the fact that the ball wasn't being delivered with any semblance of speed or intelligence. I imagine the only thing more frustrating than watching the Collingwood front half in 2020 was playing in it. His QF heroics were just about the highlight of the year. I hope he stays, and I hope we can find another tall target to free him up a bit more too.
Brodie Grundy - 6/10. Turned from the league's best big man into a bog-standard AFL ruckman. He must have been carrying something, despite the club's insistence otherwise. How else would you explain getting beaten by Rhys Stanley, or Oscar McDonald, or Andrew ****ing Phillips? Still tried his absolute guts out, because that's what Brodie does, but he just couldn't compete to his usual standard. The most pressing task for the club as a whole is to sort out the hopeless disconnect between Brodie's palm and our midfield brigade. It's been diabolically bad since the 2019 prelim, and we've lost a lot of games because of it.
Jordan De Goey - 6/10. Another year cruelled by injury, this time a finger of all things. Was just getting going with 5 goals against Geelong when he got hurt, and came back with a bang to kick 4 against Gold Coast and seal a finals berth for the club on his return. Also kicked two huge goals against West Coast to win a final. He has what most of our forwards lack: game-winning impact. If we can ever see him at his uninterrupted best, it could be a scary proposition. As for this year, it was yet another "what could have been".
Isaac Quaynor - 6/10. He leaked a few goals defensively this year, but I thought IQ was a revelation off half-back for us. His dash, his willingness to take the game on, and those scything, low, right-footed bullets were a joy to behold. He also displayed considerable aerial ability, regularly outpointing his similarly sized opponents to snare an intercept mark. And he's only 20 years old. He's tracking as one of the most exciting prospects we've had on our lists in the last decade. Before this year I was hopeful but not sold; now I'm excited for just how good he can become.
Steele Sidebottom - 5/10. Was a solid, sometimes brilliant citizen when on the park this year. But he loses big points for a foolish a COVID brainfade, and forfeits the chance to earn those credits back thanks to a poorly-timed conception. Everything conspired to ensure that 2020 was arguably the least productive year in Steele's entire career. He's still one of the more natural goalkickers in the squad, and would look good on a flank utilizing his exceptional tank and equally exceptional creativity. We need a big 2021 from him, badly.
Adam Treloar - 5/10. Adam had injury problems of his own, but even when he was on the park, he wasn't playing great footy. His form was fumbly, rushed and panicky, and we saw him putting teammates under immense pressure with hospital handpasses rather than taking the game on himself. He resorted to blatant throws on three separate occasions in pressure situations, most notably against Essendon and Freo, the latter arguably costing us the game. He really seemed to lose his cool, and embodied that feeling of disjointed, disconnected calamity that our whole team suffered. He hasn't been the same since the double hammy injury, sadly, and may never be again. He's stopped hurting teams on the outside, and though he racks up the possessions and runs all day, he's nothing special without his now-absent line-breaking ability.
Mason Cox - 5/10. Started decently against the Dogs, but upon the season's resumption, something wasn't right with him. It's hard to say whether it was injury-related, attitudinal, or just the team's devolution into a dour, defensive mess that cruelled him. I thought he was finished. But, remarkably, he found something, clawed his way back, salvaged his season, and may have saved his career. Had a pretty strong last month in which he looked like our best tall forward against Brisbane, Gold Coast and West Coast. He started clunking contested grabs again. And, unbelievably, despite being dropped for most of the year, he still ended as our second-leading goalkicker. (Yes, that probably says more about our other forwards than it does about Mason).
Tyler Brown - 5/10. He's still very underdeveloped to be playing at the highest level, but Tyler had enough impressive moments this season to make you think he's gonna be a special talent. Whether winning a contested ball in traffic, or breaking a tackle of someone twice his size, or dishing out a Nate Fyfe style handpass, you can tell he has that X factor. Strong games against St Kilda, Carlton and Gold Coast are a great foundation for him to build on. He's still just a baby. Let's hope both Brown boys have the same physical explosion that their dad did in his early 20's.
Trey Ruscoe - 5/10. Hard to rate off such a small sample size, but he has a knack of kicking goals, something which many of our other forwards seem to have forgotten how to do. Was thoroughly impressed by his physicality and agility, which is just about as good as you'll see in an 18-year-old. He'll develop into a physical beast, and if he can keep that knack of popping up in the right places, could become something really special. To get any games at all this year was a great effort; to kick five goals is fantastic for him.
Jordan Roughead - 5/10. A strange old year for Jordan, one in which he seemed to lack the requisite intensity. It felt like he was a step off the pace for a lot of the season. He was part of a defence that got demolished a few times, and had more bags kicked on him than usual. I get the feeling he was doing it tough with being away from home - I seem to recall his partner may have been an at-risk person in regards to COVID. He played like he was battling something, but kudos to him for sticking it out.
Jack Madgen - 4/10. He lost a point or two on tonight's effort. He had been building over the last couple of months into a reliable defender who regularly beat his man and got the ball going the other way; tonight he put in one of the all-time terrible finals performances. Lax defending, bad positioning, horrible kicking, attempting to shrug off a tackle from Patrick ****ing Dangerfield... ugh. It's a real shame for Jack. It hurt to watch him out there.
Chris Mayne - 4/10. He once again demonstrated his unquestionable courage in 2020 by getting his eye socket caved in. I'll always love the Mayne Man for the bravery he displays every time he runs out. But he looked a step slower in 2020, and a moment more hesitant, and a fraction more cautious, and all of it added up to a player who was indecisive and detrimental to the team when he had the footy. The pace with which he moves the ball just kills us offensively. I'll never question his commitment. I just hope he is phased out of the squad by more exciting youngsters.
Levi Greenwood - 4/10. His season was pretty much written off due to injury, but it was nice to see him fight his way back and claim a few scalps late in the season, most notably that of Tim Kelly. I'm a huge fan of the hardness he brings, but he seemed to lack a yard of pace and struggled to find the footy this season. That could be entirely injury-related, or it could be father time catching up with the Pig. I'm not sure if he goes around again.
Travis Varcoe - 3/10. Didn't get on the park a whole lot, and didn't look up to the pace of it when he did. He's been an absolute favourite of mine at the Pies, and I'll always remember him for his 2018 finals series heroics off the back of personal tragedy. As for 2020, it's looking pretty likely that his time is up.
Tom Phillips - 3/10. 2020's shortened quarters took away Flippa's one wood - his insane endurance running - and as a result, he came crashing back to earth with a thud. Bizarrely used as a small forward for chunks of the season, he was regularly beaten in contested ball and made bad decisions when placed under pressure (most memorably an errant handpass in the centre of the Gabba that missed his teammate by five metres and put Brisbane in on goal). Two years ago it looked like he was the next big thing; now, it looks like he's no guarantee to get games. Fingers crossed the longer game time in 2021 allows him to find his form at AFL level once again.
Darcy Cameron - 3/10. He played decent games against Adelaide, and against West Coast in the final... but other than that, he struggled to perform at AFL level. He looked better as a ruck than a forward, where his positioning was all at sea. He can pluck a contested grab when he's in the contest, but he so often finds himself where the ball isn't. As a ruck he's behind Grundy, and as a forward he's comfortably behind Mihocek and Cox, so it's hard to see him adding much value to the side. Might be worth keeping around as backup ruck, but I'm getting decidedly Chris Bryan / Guy Richards vibes.
Rupert Wills - 2/10. After filling a role with strong tackling and clearance work late in 2019, I had high hopes that Rupe could bring a hard-nosed edge to our midfield. Sadly, besides one good outing against the Hawks, his game was riddled with fumbles, double-grabs and poor skill execution. He still brought defensive intent for the most part, but all other aspects of his game fell away sharply, leaving a player who looked a clear rung below the level.
Will Hoskin-Elliott - 2/10. The first of the "Swoop Squad" to fall off the face of the planet in 2020. Our entire brigade of small/medium forwards have felt the impact of our stagnant, systemless ball movement, but perhaps none more so than WHE. He thrives on space, pace and chaos; our gameplan, or lack thereof, currently possesses none of these elements. 42 goals in 2018... 11 goals in 2020. He was beaten by almost every opponent who played on him. As we'll see, this is a theme for our small forwards...
Jayden Stephenson - 2/10. 38 goals in his debut year... 14 in 2020. Jayden's confidence took a battering this year. It was hard to watch. He was struggling and the whole football world could see. Like a lot of his teammates, he played scared and confused, not brave enough to take the game on, too indecisive to make the play. What we got was a kid who was constantly second-guessing himself, taking the wrong option, backing out of contests. And yet despite all this, he still kicked our equal-second-most majors. I get the feeling he's the sort who needs to be around family to be happy. This year robbed him of that; hopefully we can see the sort of flair which won him a rising star return in 2021.
Callum Brown - 1/10. Cal took a huge step backwards this year. In 2019, we were seeing flashes of a player with electrifying burst speed, an incredible sidestep, and manic attack on the ball. This season, we saw a confused, hesitant, undersized flanker who couldn't stick a tackle or win a hard ball. He played the defensive forward role without enough of the defensive or forward parts. What's worse, his disposal fell off a cliff, and his forward fifty entries, on the rare occasion he got them, were diabolically bad - the Brisbane game being case in point. It would be foolish to write him off - he's a Brown, after all - but Cal has gone from "promising youngster" to "playing for his career" in the space of 12 months.
Josh Thomas - 1/10. 38 goals in 2018... 4 (yep, four) goals in 2020. Ouch. No matter what he tried, poor Josh couldn't get a single thing going this season. Every single aspect of his game deserted him. He seemed to try his guts out every time he got on the park, but he couldn't win the ball, use it well, or apply defensive pressure with any kind of regularity whatsoever. His best game of the year came tonight against the Cats, standing up in a side that got smashed. Let's hope that gives him something to take into next year, if indeed he gets another year.
Too few games to rate: Ben Reid, Matthew Scharenberg, Tom Langdon, Atu Bosenavaguli, Brayden Sier, Tim Broomhead, Max Lynch, Will Kelly, Flynn Appleby, Jay Rantall, Lynden Dunn, Dayne Beams, Mark Keane, Anton Tohill, Tom Wilson.
THE COACH
Nathan Buckley: 3/10.
So ends Nathan's worst year in the job since he took the reigns. If it wasn't his team losing all semblance of structure and form, it was a controversy about ducking out for a quick hit of tennis in the middle of a global pandemic, or confronting his poor handling of an ex-Pie who felt aggrieved by a horrendously ignorant nickname.
It was no doubt a horrendously difficult year for all involved, but there's no sugarcoating the fact that Nathan didn't perform well. The gameplan fell to pieces under his watch, devolving from a free-flowing, fast-moving, attacking brand in 2018 to a dire, imaginationless, excruciatingly slow and laborious slog. His systems broke every forward on the list, with the possible exception of the gutsy Mihocek. When no other player kicks more than 14 goals, you have to start wondering... has every single forward on our list inexplicably turned to shit at once, or has the coach implemented a strategy under which no forward can realistically thrive?
The craziest thing is just how painfully obvious it is to us supporters that we need to get speed on the ball. In the one game we played on at all costs and pumped the ball forward long and direct, we pulled off the greatest finals upset in living memory. In every other game, where we tried to pinpoint one-metre handpasses in slippery conditions, where we chipped sideways at glacial pace, where we steadfastly refused to move the ball fast and direct, we looked second rate. At times, we looked like the worst team in the comp.
Whichever way you slice it, for the majority of 2020, the Collingwood we saw on the football field were a hot mess. That buck stops at... well, Bucks.
The upshot of all this is that 2021 could conceivably see us win the flag, the wooden spoon, or anything in between. We're such a schizophrenic side that literally anything is possible when we take the field. A few adjustments in the right direction and we'll be in it up to our noses; a few missteps like those we saw this season and we'll be the most frustrating side to watch in 2021, too.
Let's hope Nathan twists the dials in the right direction.
Floreat Pica, and despite all the difficulties that 2020 has brought upon all of us - Go Pies. It's been a pleasure posting with you all.
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