All is quiet at the Westpac Centre as the players and coaches enjoy their midseason break before a testing second half of the year. Pies in Print today joins in the reflective mood and looks at where the club is positioned at the break.
Collingwood coach Nathan Buckley backtracks on ‘old-school mentality’
The Age – 15/06/15 at 4:43pm
Matt Murnane
“Collingwood coach Nathan Buckley told his players on Sunday “we’ve done nothing yet” before backtracking a day later and acknowledging that the club had actually built a “really strong” platform from which to launch at finals.”
The month ahead
Concern from the press surrounding Collingwood’s finals chances largely stems from the Magpies fall from a similar position last year.
The next month will go a long way in determining the side’s fate. After travelling to Perth to play Fremantle, the Magpies then face Hawthorn, Port Adelaide and West Coast.
Popular in print
Popping up in the headlines arguably more than anyone else in the first half of the year has been Travis Cloke.
The key forward has had his kicking action analysed and criticised in the first eleven weeks but has found a way to find some imposing form.
Cloke has kicked 12 goals in the past two games, leading the Herald Sun to report on Monday 16 June that Cloke is visualising that he’s “kicking the Magpies into a Grand Final to help improve his set-shot accuracy”.
From the VFL
A Monday newspaper wouldn’t be complete without reports in the papers regarding the fitness and form of Collingwood’s VFL prospects, particularly All-Australian defender Ben Reid.
The VFL Magpies will also face the bye this week, meaning the likes of Reid, Clinton Young, Darcy Moore, Levi Greenwood and Matthew Scharenberg will be given a chance to freshen their recovering bodies.
At last count, there was 14 AFL-listed players in the Collingwood VFL team which has entered the midseason break just one game off top spot.
Injury report
After injuries to key players in the early stages of the season, the Collingwood list finds itself relatively healthy at the midseason break.
After a head-clash at training last Friday, Brodie Grundy has returned home to South Australia to recover over the break.
Nathan Freeman, Brent Macaffer, Jackson Ramsay and Ben Sinclair make up the rest of the injury list with Macaffer the only one expected to miss an extended period of time.
Pies in Print: Bye round update
With the players set to enjoy a weekend away from football, Pies in Print today takes a look at the season so far in addition to how Collingwood are placed going into the second half of the year.
