It was only eight weeks ago that the AFL’s greatest rivalry last took centre stage, with the Blues claiming victory over the Magpies in a thrilling 15-point win.
In that hit-out, the men in black and white were less experienced than Carlton, which went in with 29 more games under its belt per player.
Captain Scott Pendlebury was Collingwood’s greatest ball-getter with 34 touches, while Alex Fasolo was the match’s highest scorer with four goals.
Speaking to the media ahead of Saturday night’s clash, Collingwood coach Nathan Buckley said his side was eager to make amends after “lowering their colours earlier in the year (against Carlton)”.
“We do need to redeem ourselves in regards to that performance. It was eight weeks ago now and we can’t take it back but we want to be playing better footy. We said that we were going to do that (play better football) post-bye and the challenge is to reproduce it again on Saturday,” Buckley told the media on Thursday.
“We’re in better shape (now) than we were then, we got wacked in contested ball. Aerially they were dominant on us so there are a few areas there that we know we need to come to the party with.
“We’re fully focused on playing our best footy. We’re up against an arch-enemy.”
The Blues’ midfield reigned supreme against Collingwood in Round 7, with Patrick Cripps, Bryce Gibbs, Marc Murphy, Ed Curnow and Sam Kerridge averaging 26 disposals between them.
Buckley said Levi Greenwood, who Collingwood has used primarily as its tagger this season, was no guarantee to be assigned a negating role on one of Carlton’s midfielders.
“It’s always a balance for us,” he said.
“Any opposition that’s looking at us at the moment would say that Levi (Greenwood) generally goes to someone, but that’s not a photo complete for us. If we feel like we need three ball-winners that are a little bit more balanced in offence and defence and run Levi off the forward line, then we can do that.
“We’ll consider running with (Carlton).”
With the Magpies including Travis Cloke, Nathan Brown and Tyson Goldsack for their second battle against the Blues, the experience tables will be turned this time round as the trio advances Collingwood to an average of five more games of experience per player than Carlton.
Despite Fasolo (shoulder) remaining on the sidelines, Darcy Moore’s return from a fractured collarbone will boster Collingwood’s tall stocks up forward.
At the opposite end of field, third-generation forward Jack Silvagni will excite the Carlton faithful as he makes his much-anticipated debut.
The Blues will have to come out firing on Saturday night if they’re to arrest a two-game losing streak, with the Magpies set to be full of confidence after their convincing win over Fremantle.
