While there were genuine question marks over Collingwood heading into the 2023 season, they’ve quickly quashed any concerns to sit atop the ladder following nine rounds with an 8-1 record.
Obviously, their record this year has been impressive, but looking back a little bit further, it becomes quite astonishing.
After Collingwood’s win last Sunday against GWS, they’ve skipped out to a 20-2 record from their last 22 home and away games, the length of a typical premiership season (until this year).
That 20-2 record means this Collingwood group (from Round 10 2022 to Round 10 2023) have a better season-long record than Hawthorn in 2014 and 2013 who won 19 games, while equalling both St Kilda in 2009 and themselves in 2011 who both went 20-2 across a campaign.
Clearly this is skewed to favour the Magpies as the record isn’t across a typical season from start to finish. But let’s remember that this group were just nine games into Craig McRae’s tenure while coming off a 17th-place finish the year prior before going on their run.
But if we look at their results since Round 10 last year in home and away football as a typical season, a 20-2 record has the Magpies having only a worse campaign-long record than just two sides since the turn of the century – Essendon in 2000 and Geelong in 2008.
The turning point for this group came against Fremantle in Round 10, 2022, with the Magpies holding a 4-5 record in the lead-up to that game.
That fixture in Perth saw the Magpies regain Jamie Elliott from a shoulder injury, while it also saw Mason Cox play just his third game for 2022 and Nathan Murphy play his first, all big contributors to that 36-point win.
Since then, that trio have become crucial for McRae and there’s no doubt they’re heart and soul players that help this team click.
Another interesting wrinkle of their last 22 home and away weeks is Collingwood’s ability to win close games, with their average overall winning margin just 17.7 points which includes an average winning margin of 27.6 in 2023.
If we look any closer, if the Magpies beat their arch rivals Carlton on Sunday, there’s every possibility they’ll become 23-2 over the last 25 weeks once Round 12 finishes with North Melbourne and West Coast in the following fortnight.
A reminder for naysayers as well, we’re not saying this group is better than all of those great teams that did it over the entirety of a home and away season, it’s merely to show how dominant their recent record has been.
Collingwood’s home and away record since Round 10, 2022 by the numbers
Wins: 20
Losses: 2
MCG record: 15-0
Away record: 5–2
Ave winning margin: 17.7 points
Best winning streak: 11 games (Round 10, 2022 to Round 21, 2022)
Current winning streak: 5 games (Round 5, 2022 to Round 9, 2022)
Teams beaten: Carlton x2, Melbourne x2, GWS x2, Adelaide x2, Essendon x2, Port Adelaide x2, Fremantle, Hawthorn, Gold Coast, North Melbourne, Geelong, Richmond, St Kilda, Sydney
Teams lost to: Sydney, Brisbane