Collingwood host the Western Bulldogs at the MCG on Friday night in a Round 1 match where Travis Cloke will surely be the major talking point.
Over the past 11 seasons Cloke has played 246 games and kicked 441 goals for the Magpies, but after being dropped multiple times last year requested a trade and joined the Bulldogs in the off-season.
What the Bulldogs and Cloke didn’t really know when they first made contact was that the Dogs were about to become the reigning premiers. Things have worked out pretty well for Cloke in that regard!
It was, in the end, a marvellous year for the Dogs – they had some trials and tribulations and plenty of injuries along the way but ultimately their spectacular finals form saw them shock the league and win their second premiership.
For Collingwood it was another disappointing year, and the third year in a row that they have missed out on playing finals. They enter the 2017 season with a fair bit of expectation coming from supporters and the media that this will be the year they finally deliver on their talent. Is there much of a chance that they get things started on the right foot with a win over the reigning premiers? Probably not.
In addition to just not being as impressive a team generally as their opponents, the Magpies have more than a few injury problems at the moment with Daniel Wells, Jordan DeGoey and Jamie Elliot all set to miss.
The Dogs have won the last four matches between these sides in a row and you can expect them to do so again. $1.46 to win is decent odds, and $1.92 at a line of -16.5 looks like a reasonable proposition.
But what about Clokey himself? Well if the footy gods have a taste for drama, he is $12 to kick the first goal. Tom Boyd looks good value in that market at $17 but beware – he may start in the ruck.