SHAUN Burgoyne is expecting to come up against a “fired up” Collingwood side at the MCG tonight.
Both sides sit on eight wins for the season, and the winner will move a game clear inside the top four by the end of the round.
The experienced Hawk believes last week’s narrow loss to Fremantle will spur the Magpies on against the dual reigning premiers.
“We’re coming up against a team that has been playing pretty good footy,” Burgoyne said.
“They just got pipped last week against Freo over there, so we know they’re going to come out pretty fired up.
“We’re expecting a really tough game.”
A veteran of 281 AFL matches, Burgoyne believes the Magpies’ strength so far this season has been their ability to share the workload and their evenness as a team.
“I think at the moment they’re getting a whole team contribution.
“It doesn’t seem like they’re relying on any one player.
“Their mids are all contributing – they’ve got a number of mids up in high possessions – and they’ve got a really even spread of goalkickers.
“(Travis) Cloke’s obviously leading, but the guys around him are kicking goals as well.”
Cloke has 31 goals, while Jamie Elliott has 27 and six other Magpies have kicked 10 or more.
The Magpies also have a mix of experienced players and younger players performing in the midfield, with Dane Swan, Scott Pendlebury, Taylor Adams and Steele Sidebottom all averaging more than 24 disposals per game.
Burgoyne has played a number of different roles this year and has been pleased with his consistency – and the Hawks’ consistency in recent weeks.
“It’s been good to get a bit of consistency in our game. We had a bit of trouble with that in the first half of the year, with getting back-to-back wins,” he said.
“I’ve been able to play every game and play a number of different roles for the team… (and) I think that’s exactly what Clarko wants, having a number of players in the team that can play in any position.
“Our confidence is up and we’re still building as well, but we know we have to play at our best this week to get another win.”
