Anzac Day Game On - Pies v. Dons. Changes, updates, comments

mandy · Joined: 03 Jun 2001 Location: Glen Iris

I've been to 4 games this year. Twice I've worn my Collingwood jumper. Richmond and Port. I think I'll wear it today.

Pies4shaw · pies4shaw Joined: 08 Oct 2007

Assuming the team lines up as selected, the 'Pies will go in (again) with a very inexperienced line-up (4 players under 10 games, including one first-gamer). It will be a fantastic effort if they able to hold their own.

On average, the Collingwood team will be (ever so) slightly more experienced than the Essendon team but younger. The balance is
fine enough that if, eg, Jolly comes out and Wood goes in, the Bombers will field a more experienced (and still older) team.

The team today will line up with a total 1,829 AFL games behind them. By comparison, the Collingwood team which lined up on Anzac Day 2011 had 2,634 games behind them (ie, about 45% more experience across the board) and no players with under 10 games (Fasolo did not debut until round 12).

To put the material Nathan Buckley is presently trying to work with into perspective, the team fielded against Melbourne in 2006 (which I recall as a particular low-light in my years following the 'Pies) had 6 players with under 25 games when it ran onto the field but still had over 2,600 games of total experience. Of the 6 with training wheels on, Rowe and Iacobucci are long gone. The other 4 were Travis, Heater, Daisy and Pendles.