AFL 2025: Collingwood will assess conditions before it unveils its reinvented tall forward line
Collingwood’s new tall trio is ready to roll – but the looming storm bound for Sydney could force a rethink on the Pies’ forward structure.
AFL
Don't miss out on the headlines from AFL. Followed categories will be added to My News.
Collingwood won’t make a call on its new three-pronged forward line until it sees how much rain falls in Sydney on Sunday.
Magpies coach Craig McRae said they would take all of their emergencies to Sydney for the Opening Round clash with GWS and assess conditions.
Collingwood has a reinvented forward line with talls Dan McStay and Brody Mihocek returning from injury and Tim Membrey crossing from St Kilda.
McRae thinks the trio each have the capacity to play in the wet but didn’t want to lock in all three without seeing the conditions first.
“We will wait and see on match day to see how heavy it is,” he said.
“The great thing with those three is that they’re very mobile, Checkers (Mihocek) does his best work on the ground, Dan’s got ability to cover the ground and Tim is the same.
“They’re not just mark or bust type of players.”
McStay missed the majority of last season recovering from an ACL injury, while Brody Mihocek sat out the back end of the season with a torn pec.
Membrey, meanwhile, has kicked 30-plus goals in each of his past three full seasons at St Kilda.
McRae says the Magpies, particularly forwards coach Scott Selwood, are eager to have tall options and will be flexible with how they use them.
“We haven’t had too many tall magnets, for a period of last year in particular,” he said.
“Scott Selwood is rubbing his hands together going ‘this is nice, we actually can kick it to a contest this year instead of trying to find ways to score’.
“But we want to continue to evolve, just because we’ve got three talls (it) doesn’t mean they’re all going to play at the same time.
“We might keep one on the bench, play Dan in the ruck early. We’ve got flexibility, we saw within our group last year our small guys can put a lot of pressure on.
“We might just keep giving the opposition something different every time.”
Originally published as AFL 2025: Collingwood will assess conditions before it unveils its reinvented tall forward line
Bevo concedes: When Jamarra drama will ‘come to a head’
Luke Beveridge has conceded he’s unsure if Jamarra Ugle-Hagan will play another AFL game and revealed when a tipping point might be reached that decides the forward’s Western Bulldogs future.
Crows crumble in west amid Dawson form concerns
Adelaide has been dealt a harsh reality check in the west, falling to a disappointing loss against Fremantle which left the club with injury and MRO concerns. See full SuperCoach takeaways and reaction here.