Both of last year’s Grand Finalists Collingwood and Brisbane have started the year poorly with 0-2 starts to the 2024 campaign.
After the sides finished first and second both on the ladder and in the finals in 2023, it’s been a quick decline as they have failed to jump out of the blocks.
The Magpies dropped their opening game to GWS and then lost to Sydney at home last Friday, while the Lions fell by one point to the Blues in Opening Round before travelling west to lose against the Dockers by 23 points on Sunday.
SEN host David King thinks that he’d rather be Collingwood over Brisbane right now because he thinks their issues are correctable and are mainly down to the side not buying in at 100 per cent.
“Collingwood or Brisbane, who would you rather be?” King asked on SEN Mornings.
“Given the problems that are in Brisbane and the different problems that are at Collingwood. Clearly, you’d rather be the premier because you can talk about hangovers. If you’re not the premier, well, you’ve sort of got nothing.
“But right now, after a couple of looks at each, who would you rather be?
“I still think you'd rather be Collingwood because I still think it's correctable and you can get them going and I talked about the gap being a metre … I think you're going to see them give a response.”
While Brisbane are no doubt stacked with talent, King pondered whether 2023 was their time to win it all as they were firing on all cylinders but ended up falling just one kick short of the ultimate success.
King thinks that they’ve got some issues in the midfield particularly when Lachie Neale misses with injury.
“For Brisbane, it might have just been that 2023 was their year,” King said.
“Everyone says, ‘Oh no, they’ve got this window and they’ve got all this talent’.
“Well, I don't know if you just get this window because you've got good talent. They've looked vulnerable.
“The ruckman, big Oscar (McInerney) … if he grabs it out of the ruck one more time and dump kicks it forward … this is the sort of stuff that should have been corrected.
“He's got elite-level talent around him. If you grab it, mate, just pop the handball, we’ve got guys that can kick it and go.
“But no, they still carry on with this and then turn the ball over and then they're all chasing tail and they're not quick enough to chase tail.
“They’re honest performers in there without (Lachie) Neale.”
Another tactical issue that’s stifling the Lions is how teams are approaching Harris Andrews as sides look to tag him much as Collingwood did with defensive forward Billy Frampton in the Grand Final.
“I look at the worry of the tactical battle when Harris Andrews is effectively tagged,” King said.
“This is a discussion I reckon we've had 15 times about the Grand Final, but Brisbane doesn't want to accept. Frampton is almost vote-worthy because he doesn't touch the ball but he doesn't allow Harris Andrews to touch the ball.
“The other side of the coin is they say, ‘Well, Frampton was kept quiet’. Frampton's a bit player doing a negating job … (Brennan) Cox did the same.”
“I just think there's so many different challenges with Brisbane that aren't there with Collingwood,” King said.
While King is refusing to put a line through the two clubs, he is certain that things need to shift quickly for them to contend in 2024 particularly as they face off against each other in Brisbane in 10 days.
“Collingwood are in an awkward position where we talked about Geelong after their flag and their rough start the year (2023) and we put a line through them really quick.
“It's hard to do with this because the ladder at the moment will lie to us for a little while.
“So, I'm not putting a line through anyone for a while until we get a complete look at a few.
“But it would want to shift quickly for both these two clubs. They play each other in a fortnight.”
Brisbane have a bye in Round 2 while Collingwood face St Kilda at the MCG on Friday night.
The 2023 Grand Finalists face off on Easter Thursday at the Gabba on March 28.
