FOUR years ago Ivan Maric and Cameron Wood were set to become teammates, but on Saturday afternoon, the pair will do battle at the MCG as the lead ruckmen for their respective sides.

In November 2004, the Crows approached the draft table with Wood’s name pencilled next to their prized first-round pick, but James Fantasia and his recruiting staff were stunned at John Meesen’s availability at pick eight and opted for the now-Demon over local lad Wood.

Adelaide’s fourth pick in that same draft was used to snare Maric and now both youngsters, despite going down different paths, appear on track for breakout seasons.

Maric, 22, has shared the ruck duties with teammates Jon Griffin, 22, and Kurt Tippett, 21, as Adelaide attempts to cover the loss of first choice tall Rhett Biglands for the second-consecutive year.

Wood, 21, was recruited from the Brisbane Lions last year and has also been entrusted with greater responsibility courtesy of a nagging knee injury to Josh Fraser.

This week, both ruckmen will be out to assert their authority on the game and Maric said he was hoping to get the wood over his Collingwood opponent.

“We’re going to be playing against Cameron Wood a fair bit in the future, I think, so it’s good to have good games against him and to, hopefully, beat him personally, which helps next time you come up against him,” Maric said.

“That’s how we kind of see it as ruckman. I played against him [Wood] once when he was at Brisbane and he’s a pretty good player, so I’ll have to be on my game.”

The Crows are determined to avoid a record fourth-straight loss under coach Neil Craig, while the Pies will be out to establish some consistency after a solid win over the Swans.

Collingwood has been accused of rising for the big games this season, like the win over Geelong, and underestimating the lower ranked teams, like the Blues who have beaten the Pies twice this season.

The victor of Saturday’s clash at the MCG could claw within two points of the fourth-placed Swans, who tackle the Hawks in Melbourne on Sunday, while the loser could plummet as low as eighth.

Maric said the result would be pivotal to both team’s top-four chances.

“The last three games have been pretty important too, but we hate losing, just like everyone else, and it’s going to be on this week. I’m fired up and I think all the boys are as well, so bring it on,” Maric said.

“We can’t just sit back and wait to see whether Collingwood is going to play well or not. We’ve got to concentrate on what we want to do and play really attacking, hard running footy and that’s what we’ll do this weekend.”

Adelaide used two of its other picks in the 2004 NAB AFL Draft to secure emerging onballers Nathan van Berlo and Chris Knights and Maric was confident a ‘stronger bond’ between the players at West Lakes would help his team over the line this week.

“The good thing about this season, compared to last year, is that we’ve bonded really well. We’ve become closer and the friendships are a lot tighter, especially with all the young guys,” Maric said.

“You’ve just been able to sense that over the last few weeks. Even last week, the boys came together and were really fired up. Obviously, it didn’t work out the way we wanted it to, but the group is still really tight and we really want to win.”