Jeremy Howe admits he’s unsure what the future holds for Collingwood’s ageing champions as their football mortality has seemingly stared them in the face this year for the first time in their careers.
Craig McRae’s side improved to 2-3 after narrowly surviving a late Hawthorn charge to close out Gather Round on Sunday night in a game Steele Sidebottom replaced Scott Pendlebury (ribs) as the sub.
Sidebottom against Brisbane last week was the third Magpies veteran rested this season amid question marks on the likes of Sidebottom, Howe — both 33 — and Pendlebury, 36, having been below their previous best form throughout Collingwood’s winless 0-3 start.
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Hawks fall JUST SHORT against Pies! | 02:48
Speaking after the five-point win over Hawthorn, Howe said the trio still feel “great physically” and “like we can contribute,” but know they’re not getting any younger.
“We understand we’re sitting at the top of the tree of the age bracket,” Howe told foxfooty.com.au.
“‘Sidey’ was obviously managed last week to give others an opportunity, Fin Macrae is coming through and has been knocking the door down for quite some time. We’ve got other young kids who are probably going to get an opportunity.
“In terms of being managed, that might happen again throughout the year, I’m not too sure.
“We’re all out of contract at the end of the year. What that looks like, I’m not too sure either, I don’t want to project too far forward.
“The powers that be will sort that out at some stage.”
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While acknowledging the club’s fade out against the Hawks was disappointing, the veteran defender was largely satisfied to bank the win as the reigning premiers head in for their early-season bye.
Howe highlighted a 2-3 record is a “hell of a lot better than 1-4” as Collingwood continues its recovery from three-straight losses to open its flag defence.
“Regardless of how we got it done in the end, the four points were really important given we’ve got a weekend off next week. We get the ledger back to 2-3, but we’ve put ourselves a little bit behind the eight ball,” he said.
“Some parts of our game we’ve been OK with, we put it all together against a strong outfit in Brisbane.
“We felt like we played really good for three quarters against Hawthorn, but then unfortunately probably fell away and gave away a few stupid free kicks towards the end.
“We’ll definitely take the win though.”
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Howe said the Pies “knew” the Hawks were going to make a run at some stage, it just so happened to be in the fourth quarter as Sam Mitchell’s side nearly ran over the top at the death in a grandstand finish.
It came in a highly built-up showdown against Magpie turned Hawk Jack Ginnivan for the first time, with the polarising small forward kicking two goals and at his theatrical best.
Ginnivan was at the centre of several umpiring decisions including drawing a high free kick in the first quarter and kicking Hawthorn’s opening goal in a moment McRae highlighted “you could probably write the script on well and truly before the game.”
The 21-year-old kicked his second major in the fourth term after drawing a 50m penalty as part of Hawthorn’s surging run home at Adelaide Oval.
But Howe said Collingwood was more focused on the task at hand than getting caught up in the battle within the battle against its 2023 premiership teammate.
“There wasn’t too much (chirp), it was business as usual. I think when he kicked his second goal, he started trying to wind up a few guys,” he said.
“He kind of thrives off the theatre of things, we were just trying to take care of business and thankfully we got the result.
“Credit to him, he’s an effective, crafty player and is going to be good for them. I thought he played his role tonight. But we’ll take the four points.”
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Collingwood sits 11th on the ladder at the end of Round 4 after a mixed bag of form and results.
Sunday’s game against Hawthorn perhaps best mirrored the Pies’ season to date – we saw some of their absolute best form in the first half before nearly getting overrun by a young, winless side.
“We’re still trying to improve. We understand our footy earlier in the year – patchy is probably a good word – isn’t going to stack up to get the results,” Howe said,.
“I think getting on the road Easter Thursday against Brisbane in what was a really, really important game was a strong showcase and reminder of what we can do.
“Our first three quarters tonight I thought were really strong as well. I wouldn’t say it’s a sour taste in the mouth we didn’t quite finish, because we’re incredibly satisfied to get the result.”
Source Agencies
