Collingwood skipper Nick Maxwell. Picture: Michael Klein Source: Herald Sun
COLLINGWOOD has greater depth this season than it did during the 2010 premiership season, according to captain Nick Maxwell.
As the Magpies prepare for tomorrow's season opener against North Melbourne at Etihad Stadium, Maxwell believes the club is well placed to once more push deep into September.
"We have probably got more depth this year than at any time since I have been at the club," Maxwell said. "I think there is more now than there was in 2010."
He said the club's ability to bring in three free agents - Quinten Lynch, Clinton Young and Jordan Russell - and recruit a few mature-aged rookies boosted the stocks.
"(This pre-season) we have thrown guys in and they have shown that they can play at this level," Maxwell said.
"Even the guys like Jack Frost, Sammy Dwyer and Kyle Martin are new around the club, but they are ready-made players. They have got physical bodies and the way they have gone about it has been really good.
Maxwell said: "When you are finishing high on the ladder, it is hard to get the draft picks to get the quality players.
"I guess that is where we are proud of our systems, to bring through a lot of rookies. We had eight rookies in the 2010 premiership side.
"It shows that you don't always have to have the first round draft picks if you have the right guys and they are prepared to work."
Maxwell said Collingwood prided itself on choosing players with character.
"That's the aim - to pick guys who are the right people," he said.
"They don't have to have the right skills or be perfect - and I am proof of that - but if you get the right characters and they are desperate to play AFL, it makes a difference."
Meanwhile, Collingwood expects to become the first AFL clubs to smash through the 80,000 membership bracket this season.
The Magpies are currently 7000 ahead of the same stage last season and will have signed up more than 70,000 members ahead of Sunday's opening round clash.
"Our target for this year was 80,000 and we are tracking strongly, so we expect to exceed that figure this year," Collingwood chief executive Gary Pert said.
"In the next couple of years we are definitely expecting to achieve over 100,000 members."
Collingwood holds the AFL record of almost 73,000 members from last year, with Pert praising the members for shaping the direction of the campaign.
"We asked our supporters what it would take to make them members." he said.
"We are constantly asking our members what they require from us and what they want in our packages.
"It is a simple model. Whenever we are redesigning our membership packages, and doing our marketing at the start of the year, all of our ideas have come from the supporters and members who have given us feedback."
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