Can Collingwood win back-to-back premierships?
That was the question on the minds of Garry Lyon and Tim Watson as the duo returned to SEN Breakfast ahead of the 2024 AFL season.
While the Magpies are no doubt one of the favourites to win it all again in 2024, only three clubs in Brisbane (2001-03), Hawthorn (2013-15) and Richmond (2019-20) have won consecutive flags since the turn of the century.
Lyon isn’t picking Collingwood as he thinks going back-to-back is the hardest thing to do in football but concedes that Craig McRae’s side is in the premiership race up to their eyeballs.
As for Watson, he’s also not convinced that Collingwood will be a dynasty team after they won all three of their finals in 2023 by a combined 12 points.
Lyon: “I have a bit of a thing that I never pick back-to-back premiers.
“I think it’s the hardest thing to do in footy, I know it’s been done a bit, but if they can come up and win back-to-back – which they might very well do – then that would rubber-stamp them.
“But they’re right in it (the premiership race), they’re up to their eyeballs.”
Watson: “They didn’t do it (win the flag) with one leg in the air though last year.
“They didn’t just sweep the competition and smash everybody and look like they were above every other team.”
Lyon: “At some stages they did.”
Watson: “But they came back to the field late in the piece and in the end, they did all they needed to do. They just got there in the end.
“I haven’t looked at them and thought, ‘Okay, they’re a dynasty team that’s going to be the team to beat for the next five years’.”
Dermott Brereton, however, is one pundit who does believes the Magpies could quite possibly become a dynasty team.
BRERETON PREDICTS HIS 2024 TOP FOUR AND DOUBLES DOWN ON COLLINGWOOD DYNASTY CLAIM
Collingwood begins their quest to win consecutive premierships when they face GWS in Opening Round on Saturday, March 9.
Prior to that they meet North Melbourne in competitive match sim at the AIA Centre on February 21 before taking on Richmond in the AFL Community Series at Ikon Park on February 27.
