Former Essendon captain Tim Watson has announced it – Collingwood is a premiership contender.
The Pies currently sit fourth on the ladder, having won four of their last five games.
Watson is ready to put them among the teams contending for the flag.
“I believe they can win the premiership. I think they’re in the market,” he told SEN Breakfast.
“They play the right type of sustainable footy.
“They play the Suns, Essendon, West Coast at the MCG and North Melbourne – that’s their next month. It’s a reasonable run home that they’ve got.”
The Pies have been hurt badly by injuries this year, but Watson believes they’re showing enough regardless of who’s on the park.
“I’m thinking they can win the flag without Jamie Elliott, Darcy Moore might come into that side, Travis Varcoe is a very important player as well, they’ve got a really good balance,” he said.
“Their defensive unit is really, really good. They’ve got maybe the number one ruckman in the competition in Grundy and the midfield spread is brilliant.”
Collingwood defeated the 18th placed Carlton on the weekend, but Watson said that’s not what’s changed his mind on the Pies.
“We’re not getting excited about Collingwood because they beat Carlton, but it’s the balance of their team, the way they play, they now have so many different options,” he said.
“They seem to be all on the same page and that was the problem with Collingwood, we weren’t sure if they were all on the same page, we weren’t quite sure how they were defending, now they seem to have it all together.”
Collingwood will travel north to take on Gold Coast at Metricon Stadium on Saturday night.