Collingwood’s young superstar Nick Daicos broke the record for Brownlow Medal votes under the modern system, only to be one-upped and lose out on winning football’s highest honour to Patrick Cripps.

For the Magpies, 2024 was that sort of year.

They endured an up-and-down premiership defence which saw them eventually finish just outside the finals on percentage in ninth. Having lost their first three games, they course-corrected by going undefeated in their next seven before their season was ultimately wrecked by an untimely late-season run of four consecutive defeats.

A win in either of their two games which ended in draws — against Essendon on Anzac Day and Fremantle in round 12 — could have been enough to see them through to September, but like their talisman on Brownlow night, they were left just short of where they wanted to be.

Collingwood’s list is the most experienced by games played in the competition but also figures as the oldest.

Written off after their opening round loss to GWS the Pies bounced back in emphatic fashion with 91-point mauling of Port Adelaide on Saturday night.

Three of their key pillars in Scott Pendlebury, Steele Sidebottom and Jeremy Howe continue to defy Father Time, but he always wins in the end.

The Magpies opted to push all their chips to the centre of the table in the off-season. Having already traded out their top draft pick to land Lachie Schultz from Fremantle in 2023, they gave up more draft capital to land All Australian half-back Dan Houston and won the bidding war for GWS defender Harry Perryman in free agency.

Undoubtedly, their most important player for both this season and long term is Daicos, a 22-year-old who can be the competition’s best player for the next decade and is capable of winning games off his own boot. He showed a harder edge as a full-time midfielder last year while not losing any of the class that has become his trademark.

Darcy Moore’s form will go a long way towards determining his side’s fortunes this year. For so long, the premiership captain has nailed the balance between shutting down his opponent and disrupting the opposition as an interceptor but his pendulum seemed to swing too far in the offensive direction last season.

A deep, talented list with the knowledge their premiership window may not be open much longer could prove a powerful combination for Collingwood as they seek to return to the summit in 2025. Count them out from achieving the ultimate success for the second time in three years at your own peril.

BEST AND FAIREST

Nick Daicos

BREAKOUT PLAYER

Ed Allan

Best 23

FB: I Quaynor D Moore B Maynard

HB: H Perryman J Howe D Houston

C: S Sidebottom S Pendlebury J Daicos

HF: L Schultz D McStay B McCreery

FF: B Hill B Mihocek J Elliott

FOL: D Cameron N Daicos J De Goey

I/C: J Crisp P Lipinski E Allan M Cox

sub: T Mitchell