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Steele Sidebottom touched the ball seven times on Anzac Day. Tom Mitchell had the footy 19 times, but was subbed out, as the Collingwood midfielders had their clocks cleaned at the centre bounces.
The kid who replaced Mitchell, Harvey Harrison, exceeded Sidebottom’s output in just one quarter, garnering seven disposals and booting a crucial goal. What Harrison also brought was a trait that Essendon had in greater abundance than the highly professional Pies: energy.
Collingwood’s season started terribly to be 0-3, recovered in the next three games and then reached a stalemate, in every sense, on Anzac Day.
Only five days earlier, the punditry had proclaimed “here they come” following a ballistic Collingwood display against Port Adelaide that reprised their best of 2023.
The Collingwood midfield looked more formidable than Essendon’s, having collectively overwhelmed Port’s super-talented trio of Zak Butters, Connor Rozee and Jason Horne-Francis the previous weekend. Mitchell excelled against Port, as did Jordan De Goey, Nick Daicos and ruckman Darcy Cameron, who is one of few Magpies to have improved in 2024.
But the Bombers smashed Collingwood at the centre bounces, where Jake Stringer eclipsed De Goey in a battle of once-were-wayward match-winners while Zach Merrett played at his customary high standard and Darcy Parish regained touch.
What youngster Harvey Harrison also brought was a trait that Essendon had in greater abundance than the highly professional Pies: energy.
It is difficult to win any game when the centre clearances are 8-19. Collingwood did well to escape with a draw given that landslide.
What was the difference between the team that performed like the 2023 premiers and the one that couldn’t get past the Bombers, a team that the Pies dismembered in the final home-and-away game of last year?
There’s a range of reasons – and Essendon’s indomitable spirit is certainly one. But if you accept Occam’s Razor – the explanation that’s staring us in the face – then the answer appears that some Collingwood veterans found it harder to maintain their rage on a five-day break, compared with younger Bomber counterparts.
Collingwood’s pressure rating was significantly higher for the lower-profile Port game than for “the biggest home-and-away game” occasion before a national audience of two million.
Sidebottom is one of Collingwood’s most stellar servants – he and Scott Pendlebury have worn the fabled jumper more than any other Magpies, and they’re the club’s only dual premiership players since the 1950s. Sidebottom’s startling grand final goal from 55 metres entered folklore the moment it sailed through.
Sidebottom, like Mitchell, couldn’t rise again after the Port game. His productivity is well down on the previous three years, when he had a second wind after seeming to be on the downswing in the first COVID-19 year (when he was suspended for breaching COVID protocols).
“Managed” and given a week’s break after a poor game against St Kilda and then handed the sub’s vest against the Hawks, the Collingwood great is averaging fewer than 15 disposals and just 2.8 score involvements.
Mitchell, outstanding in the grand final and a cornerstone of Collingwood’s improved clearance work last year, is down on every key measure – disposals, clearances, score involvements, contested balls (just) – bar tackling, in which he’s averaged an excellent 6.7 this year.
The point is that Collingwood’s season – and whether they contend at all – will be heavily influenced by their management of veterans. The role model is Geelong of 2022, which kept Joel Selwood, Patrick Dangerfield, Tom Hawkins, Isaac Smith and company fresh enough for long enough (the Pies did less resting in 2023).
Craig McRae’s outrageous success has been predicated on his positive man-management and approach, which includes a game plan that strikes a balance between risk-taking and pragmatic retreat.
Collingwood’s large body of veterans – headed by on-field coach Pendlebury – has been an enormous asset for the coach in “managing the moments” in numerous tight finishes.
This year, however, Good Old Collingwood has seemed more old than good.
The use of veterans as sub is a pointer to what the Magpies need to do if they are to play finals and seriously compete for the flag. I do not say “defend their title” because the whole concept of a “premiership defence” is a nonsense in the AFL competition, which isn’t a boxing belt.
In selection, McRae has understandably stuck with the proven campaigners who brought home the bacon. On Anzac Day, the substitution of Mitchell for Harrison was a symbol of a tired team that sorely needed the invigoration of faster and fresher young legs.
In the coming weeks, the coach will have to “manage” very senior players such as Sidebottom, Mitchell, Jeremy Howe, Jamie Elliott, and potentially even the indestructible Jack Crisp and iron Brody Mihocek.
The Magpies, clearly, have a list management challenge in handling the exodus of their nine veterans aged 30-plus over the next two to three post-seasons. Obviously, as with any major project, this retiring of veterans will be in phases.
One would imagine a few good men will be shuffled off after 2024, with more encouraged to finish following 2025 and then 2026. Collingwood’s vaunted four-plus million dollars in future salary cap room is dependent on those exits.
To some extent, those decisions make themselves. The more immediate task for McRae and his coaches is to handle the older players in a manner that maximises performance in 2024 and also begins the task of transitioning to 2025 and beyond.
This could well mean giving Sidebottom regular weeks off. Ditto for Mitchell, Howe, Elliott, Mihocek and Mason Cox. Crisp, underwhelming this year, has been used as sub once (v Brisbane) successfully. His games streak should not interfere with team imperatives, either. At 36, Pendlebury, too, will need breaks, even if his famed ability to stop time also applies to his defiance of footy’s life cycle.
McRae might not have sufficient young talent underneath to be confident in letting the old guard sit down. The youth is largely untested and scarcer than at most clubs. But what choice does the coach have? Without that infusion of speed and enthusiasm – and respite for senior citizens – it is hard to see the Fly’s Pies flying.
