Football clubs often overestimate their own brilliance in the wake of premiership glory.
That's why repeat premierships are so difficult to win, and why they're so rightfully revered.
Collingwood fell into that trap itself. Maybe not to the same extent as the West Coast Eagles, whose drastic plummet into all-time low levels of irrelevance and feebleness continues, as plans for their 10-year premiership reunion are no doubt being drawn up.
It leaves the Magpies at a critical junction in their modern history. How needle movers at Olympic Park traverse the terrain of this tricky little post-window period will determine the decades to follow.
Here's a fool-proof list of eight steps Magpie power brokers should consider as they look to shore up the long-term competitiveness of their playing list, and health of their business.
3Swing blowtorch on Leppitsch
Justin Leppitsch appears to have his finger prints on the slow demise of this side, looking from the outside.
"Leppa" made the unprecedented move from assistant coach to general manager of talent and list strategy following the 2023 flag.
It was odd, and it came amid other changes. The aftershocks of the departures of Brendon Bolton and Graham Wright might still be being felt.
The Magpies, in an approach also endorsed by coach Craig McRae, prioritised players over picks in the years following the flag triumph, bringing in Dan Houston and Lachie Schultz - two experienced campaigners who struggled, at least early days, in the black and white.
It meant there was no real talent being developed in the club's pathways; no underbelly of elite kids doing their darnedest to push out the old brigade. Clubs who repeat boast great young players - the Pies sacrificed their ability to acquire these players in a misguided haze around their ability to be competitive in the years after winning the premiership.
Sure, they made a preliminary final last year, but that was after beating an unconvincing Adelaide side, and on the back of the fixture a club receives for missing the finals the year prior.
In that preliminary final, and in every game against a bona fide contender since, the Pies have looked a level below, and I suspect they will again tonight.
