Collingwood’s done an admirable job of remaining competitive despite their wretched run with injuries.
But while they’ve been forced to think laterally, some of the decisions don’t seem entirely logical. Here are five points that have sprung to mind over the last fortnight.
Billy Frampton
It was a strange decision to start the season with Charlie Dean in defence. While the club rates him, Dean hadn’t played any sort of football (including VFL) for two years due to injuries.
It would’ve seemed more logical to allow Dean to build a body of work in the VFL, rather than select him against last year’s finalists in Greater Western Sydney and the Sydney Swans.
Injecting Billy Frampton into defence has been the one positional win Collingwood’s found this season. Although Frampton’s 27, he’d only played 40-odd games (and some of those as a utility) when he was chosen for Collingwood’s round 3 clash against St Kilda.
Since then, he’s made an impact, and begun to develop the sort of partnership Darcy Moore previously enjoyed with Nathan Murphy, and stabilised an area (the defensive 50) that had become problematic. So why throw him forward?
Frampton’s not going to transform into Buddy Franklin. At best, he’s going to be a body.
If that’s all Collingwood needs, then Dean would seem a better choice because it wouldn’t result in disrupting Collingwood’s newfound defensive stability. Taking Frampton out of defence, and reverting to Dean, has turned a strength back into a weakness.
This isn’t a knock on Dean. But he’s still extremely inexperienced, missed all of 2022 – 23, and is still acclimating to the pace and demands of professional football, let alone AFL.
Alternatively, Darcy Moore or Jeremy Howe, now that he’s back, could be thrown forward – two guys with genuine X-factor and forward credentials. While such shifts would also destabilise defence, at least it would significantly improve the forward six. Yet they keep going to Frampton.
The counter might be that it’d be too hard for Frampton to play defence and also be the relief ruck given the absence of Mason Cox.
That’s a possibility but, again, Frampton isn’t a ruck. He’s just a body filling that spot – a role that could be handed to anybody.
Ash Johnson
Johnson burst onto the scene with such promise in 2022 – a high-flying forward with neat skills and a laconic nature. Too laconic, some might say.
This season he’s struggled – he barely touched the ball in the opening two games, and then morons horrendously mocked him on his social media accounts, which wouldn’t have helped. Consequently, he struggled in the VFL, looking broken and bereft of confidence.
The brains trust played him sporadically in defence – something I’ve been arguing that they trial since last year.
Johnson seems to lack the intensity to be a forward. You’ll see a couple of efforts from him, but he’s yet to display the intensity and industriousness that great forwards need, for example, attacking every contest with gusto, and making lead after lead after lead.
But, as a defender, Johnson would have to follow an opponent, which you’d hope would keep his head in the game. He’s got a good mark, can spoil, and has nice skills.
I’m usually loathe to see forwards thrown into defence until they’ve exhausted all possibility of realising their potential as forwards. I think Johnson’s at about that stage.
As far as Friday night against the Dogs went, the only time Johnson looked likely was when he led up to the wing.
It would seem keeping Frampton in defence, and playing Johnson as a key forward/relief ruck, would not only be much more logical, but also productive.
Giving Johnson the license to roam the ground (as the relief ruck) would also help him rediscover touch and build his confidence.
He’s significantly shorter than Frampton (by 8 centimetres), but he would be able to compensate in the ruck with his leap – at least enough to fill the role as well as Frampton.
Steele Sidebottom
Sidebottom started the season okay, struggled, and then has looked all out of sorts – well until they threw him in defence against West Coast.
Sidebottom appeared rejuvenated, accumulating 17 kicks, four handballs, six marks, and four tackles. Everybody celebrated the Collingwood genius of giving this wily veteran a new lease on life. But this was against West Coast at Marvel.
Although West Coast has been much more competitive this year, the opposition has still gotten a hold of them at times – as Collingwood did in this game. The result is a false economy as far as Sidebottom’s transformation into a rebounding defender goes.