Collingwood assistant coach Jordan Roughead is excited about the club’s midfield mix heading into the 2024 season.
The reigning premiers already bat deep on-ball and after looking at the intra-club match and first pre-season hitout against North Melbourne there are some promising signs from their stars.
Nick Daicos looks set to continue his emergence as one of the league’s best midfielders while Jordan De Goey appears to have picked up where he left off in last year’s finals series.
Roughead says the club is incredibly lucky to have that duo leading the line in the midfield after they both started their careers at other ends of the ground.
“Both those players (De Goey and Nick Daicos) we’re incredibly lucky to have on our list,” Roughead said on SEN Afternoons.
“They’re high-end talents, they’re explosive and really creative players so you want them around the ball as often as possible.”
While Daicos and De Goey are set to be supported by the usual types in Scott Pendlebury, Jack Crisp, Tom Mitchell and Patrick Lipinski among others, there are some other names putting their hands up for midfield minutes in 2024.
One that’s clearly caught the attention is Fin Macrae, and pressure forward Beau McCreery is another who could be set for some centre-bounce attendances.
Roughead explained why the Pies want to get McCreery around stoppages despite him excelling in his forward role in the 2023 premiership campaign.
“The other one that we injected into the midfield both last week during the intra-club and in today’s game against North is Beau McCreery,” Roughead said.
“I know that fans and football fans generally will know him as a pressure forward who is a beast and has a real aggressive streak with how he plays.
“But he’s one of the more powerful athletes that I’ve seen in football and he’s another one that we want to get some minutes into at centre-bounce.
“Some of the stuff he can do whether it’s offensively breaking out of the pack or defensively pressuring the opposition and forcing fumbles or repeat stoppages is a real feature of his game as well.”
One name that’s even younger who picked up some midfield minutes in the North Melbourne practice match was Ed Allan.
Roughead expects the first-round draftee to spend some time both on the wing and on-ball as he continues to develop and push for an AFL debut.
“Probably that combination (of wing and on-ball) to be honest,” Roughead said in regards to where Allan will play.
“He’s a talented player, he’s a nice user of the ball and he’s got a great size about him, he’s a big boy for a midfielder.
“He’ll keep growing into that role and hopefully we see some more of him on the inside than the outside.
“But it’s probably a balance of the two for the moment.”
Collingwood begin their premiership defence with an Opening Round clash against GWS at GIANTS Stadium on Saturday, March 9.