5 reasons why Collingwood can be Premiers in 2010 | Thebigtip

1. The ultimate home ground advantage

The biggest games of the calendar year are played at Australia's colosseum, The MCG.  As of Round 16 onwards, Collingwood don’t leave the place. As St Kilda found out last year; footy's biggest stage isn't the Indoor concrete jungle of Etihad, it's played under all weather conditions on footballs hallowed turf.

Collingwood will almost have two months to perfect their MCG game plan, while other finals contenders travel to Darwin, Launceston, Sydney, and Adelaide. 

The players will be playing infornt of 65,000 plus crowds, with every game creating its own finals atmosphere. The pressure will be intense, the crowd unforgiving. The supporter base and board members should take some credit for this, while other clubs are chasing crowd numbers and government grants to promote the game outside of Victoria, the financial pull of Collingwood allows them to stay put.  The players don’t have to travel away from the MCG and their close-by training facilities, the familiarity of it all can only point to a successful September campaign.

2. The run home

Mick Malthouse all year has stated that Collingwood has the toughest draw of the year, so far so good for them.  In the modern era it is almost impossible to win the Premiership if you don't finish in the top four. Well Mick, looks like you are a certain top 4 side and the tough run in will hold you and your troops in great stead.

A mixture of day and night matches, top 8 bottom 8 sides give the Collingwood coaching staff a great run in to settle their best 22 players. Playing both last year’s Grand finalists will on paper look daunting in the last third of the season, but if you want to win the flag, you have to beat the best.  Matches against Essendon, Carlton and Richmond will be high pressure affairs, with the Magpies expecting to take the four points on each occasion. 

3. The others

Geelong are being distracted by the Gary Ablett / Gold Coast saga, recent suspensions to the undisciplined Johnson and Mooney and injuries are starting to take their toll of the all conquering Cats. All year Geelong have not been able to put a consistent side together, the depth of talent is not as great as it seems. Injury clouds are hanging over Rooke, Corey, and Hawkins, and the form of the 'J-Pod' away from Kardinia Park has been poor.

St Kilda - It's all mental for the Saints, over the last few years the club has dominated the home and away season, but as soon as the calendar in flipped over to September a very different St Kilda turn up. The team probably should have won a Premiership with Grant Thomas at the helm, and we all know what happened to them last year. Nick Riewoldt is another concern, no doubting his ability but will his much talked about injury might just have the Saints hamstrung come September.

Western Bulldogs - It seems all systems go down at the Whitten Oval, after winning the NAB Cup, then a spluttering start  to the season it seems they have found the right formula to break the 56 year drought, all seems to be going swimmingly doesn't it.  

WRONG, Jason Akermanis is a time bomb waiting to explode, it’s all about 'us' and 'them' and unless Big Bad Barry Hall can straighten (or flatten) him out, he will ruin Brad Johnson's last September dance.

Fremantle has been devastated by injuries, and are just not good enough, Hawthorn and Adelaide will pay for their slow starts to the year, and Carlton and Sydney will just be a small speed hump for whoever meets them in September.

4. The most even list in the Competition

The list may not contain the same amount of 'A' graders as St Kilda and Geelong, but if you were to look at the top 30 players at each club, most would argue that Collingwood are in front.  The recruitment of Jolly and Ball have taken time, but are now key ingredients to the team.  The improvement of Thomas, O'Brien, Shaw and Brown combined with the emergence of Dawes, and Blair has further added to the quality of the playing list and has shortened the odds for the flag.

One only has to look at someone like Josh Fraser who can't seem to find a place in the Collingwood 22; he would be a walk in start for most of the other 15 clubs.

5. The Big Crowd factor

Anzac Day, Queen's Birthday, and blockbusters against Essendon and Carlton attract massive crowds and create finals like atmospheres.  If you are not a Collingwood supporter you know what it's like to be outnumbered, surrounded by black and white. The crowd noise is unlike anything else when Collingwood are firing, and might cause a 'deer in the headlights' scenario for teams not used to the big stage.

You might say that it's 2010 and footballers are full-time professional footballers, but nothing can prepare you for a magpie army onslaught as they cruise to the latter stages of September.