A pair of AFL champions have turned the blowtorch onto an underperforming Collingwood outfit after another disappointing loss on the weekend, criticising Craig McRae’s troops for a “lack of buy-in”.
The Pies have fallen out of the top eight and slumped to ninth on the AFL ladder, with a tough run home meaning they’ll really need to turn their form around to lock in another September berth.
While their star players played pivotal roles in last year’s flag triumph, Fox Footy expert duo Leigh Montagna and David King believe some stars are simply not working hard enough, accusing them of being “a little bit comfortable”.
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“I think it’s a real challenge for this group now, but not just the playing group, for the coaching group to rebadge and go again,” North Melbourne champion King began on Fox Footy’s First Crack.
“There’s been a drop off of absolute trust of the whole group at the moment, because I think there’s components of this group that need to be re-challenged again, they’ve got a little bit comfortable and there’s a lack of buy-in to be 100% defensive… they’re being picked apart by teams taking the game out of their mode,” he said.
Montagna highlighted damning vision that saw Jordan De Goey and Nick Daicos completely ignore their Essendon opponents, giving them paddocks of space in transition as the Bombers on-ballers worked harder around the ground.
“You could find a heap of examples, the work rate of the Essendon midfielders compared to some of the Collingwood midfielders stood out,” St Kilda champion Montagna said.
“Jordan De Goey is either not fit enough to be playing or he’s not investing in defence at the moment, he’s been doing this way too often.”
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Collingwood captain Darcy Moore was also spotlighted, highlighting the amount of space he gave his opponents on Friday night to operate in.
“This is one of the most athletic defenders in the competition, but to give the leg rope like he’s giving is a luxury to opposition players,” Montagna continued.
“Look at Darcy Moore here letting Caddy have a run and bounce down the wing, but he then gets caught in no-man’s land. He doesn’t press and apply pressure, he doesn’t get back and support the defence, he gets caught in no-man’s land and Essendon get another shot on goal.
“At the moment for this Collingwood team, it looks like it doesn’t mean as much to them as it did last year. To really want to defend and chase, to really want to support their mates, it’s just slightly off.
“They won’t say it publicly, they probably don’t believe it, but their actions are showing that it doesn’t mean as much as it did last year.”
The Bombers took 139 marks on Friday night, their second highest tally in two years, while the Pies’ pressure was at 165, their lowest for the year and well down on the AFL average of 182.
King called for the Pies to make some changes in the centre of the ground.
“My question is, when do you start to make some change? I’m looking at the centre bounce crew that they’ve gone with week-in, week-out and Nick Daicos has wallpapered over a lot of cracks. His form has been so good, and they’ve set up the game for him,” King said.
The Pies have only won centre bounce scores in the fourth quarter once since round 11, a one-point margin over Gold Coast in that statistic back in round 16.
“There are problems here. If they’re not doing the job defensively and they’re not doing the job at clearance, you’ve got to make change,” King said.
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Could the Pies give livewire forward Bobby Hill some time around the ball, or perhaps give greater opportunity to young gun Harvey Harrison or mid-season draftee Ned Long?
“You’ve got to stop rewarding these guys with these marquee roles when they’re not delivering,” King continued.
“Right now, underneath Nick Daicos, there’s a bit of a gap. Are they going to correct and come or is it just going to fritter away? If it does, there’s no guarantees that next year they get this same opportunity.
“They’re in a really good position now, on the edges of the eight, to really set and go for a two-to-three-month window and try and win this thing. It’s an open year and anything can happen, but right now, it just doesn’t mean enough.”
The Pies will look to get back on the winner’s list and snap their two-match losing streak when they host the Cats at the MCG in a Friday night blockbuster with gigantic finals repercussions.