Who will finish higher in 2023, Collingwood or Carlton?
That was the question posed by SEN’s Sam Edmund after the great rivals played out two enthralling games in 2022.
With the Magpies winning both meetings - the first by four points and the second by just one point - those results ultimately played a huge role in Collingwood finishing fourth and Carlton missing out on finals in ninth.
With many believing Carlton underachieved and Collingwood overachieved in 2022, Edmund thinks both teams will be under the microscope next campaign.
“The team that rolled them (Carlton) in Round 23 and went all the way to the penultimate weekend was Collingwood,” Edmund said on SEN Breakfast.
“Carlton finished ninth, with a percentage higher than Collingwood who finished fourth and made a prelim.
“Who finishes higher next year do you think between Carlton and Collingwood?”
Edmund’s co-host Simon O’Donnell described Collingwood as an “interesting” watch as they’ll now be one of the competition’s most hunted sides after surprising all coming from 17th in 2022.
“Collingwood, I think is a really interesting case,” O’Donnell said.
“People will say, ‘They overachieved last year’, they had a new coach come in, I don’t know whether the game plan changed or not, but he seemed to have handed it over to the players and gave them a bit of free reign … to go and play with a little more freedom.
“The Collingwood players it appeared enjoyed that because of where they finished on the ladder.
“Other sides will now look at that … they’ll look to shut that down.”
Another reason behind Collingwood finishing five spots higher than Carlton last season was their performances in close games, with nine of their 17 wins coming by single digits.
Edmund pondered whether those clutch results could be replicated or built on in 2023.
“Those results were outrageous, there was a period there from Round 16-21 where they won six games by seven points or less,” Edmund said.
“Can they maintain the rage with that? Or will it be a platform for bigger things to come?”
While there are expectations on the Magpies to stay near the top of the table, Edmund believes there’s perhaps even more pressure on the Blues to not only make finals but push for a premiership next season.
“There’s big pressure on Carlton to deliver next year,” Edmund said.
“They’ve got both Coleman Medallists, the Brownlow Medallist as well, a young superstar in Sam Walsh and they’ve added Blake Acres on a wing where they’ve been desperately crying out for.
“There’ll be big pressure on them I would have thought to not only elevate themselves into the top eight but elevate into the top half of that top eight.
“The run of injuries, is it luck? Is it mismanagement? They need a change of fortune there and they’ve gone about trying to review that.”
Carlton had a relatively quiet off-season in an attempt to consolidate with Will Setterfield leaving and Blake Acres arriving.
At the AIA Centre, Collingwood were far busier with Ollie Henry and Brodie Grundy departing while Tom Mitchell, Bobby Hill, Dan McStay and Billy Frampton were added.
With all of that in mind, who do you think will finish higher in 2023?
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Which team will finish higher in 2023?
— SEN Breakfast (@SENBreakfast) December 21, 2022