Collingwood coach Nathan Buckley says his team's 64-point defeat by Essendon was its worst since the round one demolition by Fremantle, with every player who took the field on Sunday in danger of being dropped.
"Since round one, that's the most disappointed (I've been). Our effort was really poor, our execution was poor, our want and endeavour to stay on task was non-existent, so we've made a massive withdrawal from what we've been trying to build," Buckley said after the game.
"You can put it in a batch with the last four or five weeks (the Pies have lost four of their past five matches) but the players' effort was still there in those games.
"We didn't see this coming, but the last time we had a performance like this in round one, we had two weeks post that and we went away and we came back with some real grit and endeavour and that's clearly what we need right now."
The Magpies lost by 70 points to the Dockers in round one but bounced back to defeat the Sydney Swans at ANZ Stadium the following round as they won eight of their next 10 matches.
After round 12, Collingwood was fourth on the ladder but Sunday's loss saw them slip to eighth on the ladder.
Round 18 is a split round and the Magpies now have two weeks to prepare with their clash against Adelaide at the MCG.
Buckley suggested he would put the acid on his under-performing players during the next fortnight, with some likely to feel the axe at round 18 selection.
"Our personnel will change, there might be two or three or four who will change," Buckley said.
"Some of it will be availability, some of it will be form and basically every one of the players who represented us today, you put yourself in a danger zone in relation to selection no matter who you are, no matter where you've been or what you've done.
"We've supported players in the senior side largely around effort and, as I said, this and the round one game have been the two games where our efforts been really poor.
"We go back and we have a look at who we think is going to come to the party and who's prepared to play their roles and sacrifice for the good of the team."
The Magpies substituted midfielder Clinton Young out of Sunday's game midway through the third term, even though former skipper Nick Maxwell, in his first senior game since round 11, was clearly hampered by an ankle injury he sustained just before half-time.
Buckley said Young had not been injured but defended his decision.
"'Maxy' had notified us that he was right and when you've got a senior player like that who gives you that feedback you trust him," Buckley said.
"He's sore, but structurally he's pretty important to us."
Collingwood spearhead Travis Cloke had an extended stint on the interchange bench during the third quarter, but Buckley said the Magpies had simply not been able to rotate back him onto the field as quickly as they would have liked.
Cloke was held goalless by Bombers defender Cale Hooker, but Buckley defended him when asked if he was one of the players in danger of being dropped.
"Trav has gastro, it's no excuse. He was a little under the weather today," Buckley said.
"I thought his effort was OK early but we didn't help him."
Collingwood coach Nathan Buckley will challenge his players to respond with “grit and endeavour” to the 64-point “dismantling” by Essendon that left the club’s spot in the top eight vulnerable with six rounds left in the season.
Buckley said that while his focus remained on building a side that could contend long-term, he would consider making two, three or more changes to the team that has now lost four of its past five games and was “out hustled” by the harder-working Bombers.
While Essendon coach Mark Thompson is certain his side can continue the form that saw it move inside the top eight for the first time since round four, with Jake Carlisle taking 19 marks in his best game of the year, Buckley said his players had made a “massive withdrawal” from what they had been trying to build.
“You can put it in a batch with the last four or five weeks, but the players’ effort was still there in those games. We didn’t see this coming, but the last time we had a performance like this in round one we had two weeks post that and we went away and came back with some real grit and endeavour. That’s clearly what we need right now,” Buckley said.
“Round one was a rude shock to us and sat us up on our heels straightaway. We trust what we do, but when it’s not actioned on the field, it’s pretty hard.
"Questions are going to be asked and there will be demands made and there will need to be demands met for our personnel, and that’s what the next two weeks is going to be about for us.
“Our personnel will change. There might be two or three or four that will change, but some of it will be availability, some of it will be form. Basically, every one of the players that represented today, you put yourself in the danger zone in regards to selection no matter who you are, where you’ve been or what you’ve done.
“This and the round-one game have been the two games where our effort has been really poor and we haven’t had a lot to hang our hat on, so you go back and look at who we think is going to come to the party and who is prepared to play their role and sacrifice for the good of the team.”
Essendon’s win was its third in five weeks, and came without the injured Jobe Watson and Michael Hibberd and the suspended Brendon Goddard. Carlisle kicked four goals to go with his 19 marks, and the Bombers forced Collingwood into kicking their lowest score against Essendon since 1927.
Essendon's win saw it replace Gold Coast in the eight on percentage and draw level on points with Collingwood, with Thompson confident that having run out of steam by this point in the past few seasons, the Bombers were benefiting from a better planned training program and would run the season out well.
Essendon will play the Western Bulldogs, Sydney, Richmond, West Coast and the Suns before a final-round clash with Carlton.
Collingwood has its second bye this week, with Adelaide, Port Adelaide, West Coast, Brisbane, Greater Western Sydney and Hawthorn to come.
The Magpies may again lose Nick Maxwell, who hobbled off before half-time on an injured left leg but was able to come back on.
“You'd think by the fourth year we'd finally work it out. I think we have," Thompson said. "They've just been seasoned over that four-year period, but we've also continued to train hard, we've changed the schedule a bit. Pre-season was different, we went right through the pre-season, we didn't care whether we won or lost a game.
"I'm glad we've actually made it through up until round 17. We're still running. We’ve still got legs. We haven’t taken any risks with anybody all year and we have fresh people, healthy people coming back into the team. I’m confident. We'll be right."
Thompson said he had not seen Carlisle’s game coming, despite persisting with him in the forward line all year, but that his performance was a credit to the work the coaches had continued to do with him.
“It wouldn’t have mattered where he played today, he just had one of those days,” he said. “Nineteen marks. It’s outstanding. I can’t remember the last time someone had 19 marks in a game.”
Thompson enjoyed the pressure his side was able to apply to Collingwood from start to finish, and said it was the first time he had seen this group of players control such an important match for four quarters.
"The fact they’ve done that has to be a good thing, with some of their star players and leaders not in the team,” he said. “That’s what they should use as a springboard going forward from here - they know they can do this.”
"Since round one, that's the most disappointed (I've been). Our
effort was really poor, our execution was poor, our want and endeavour
to stay on task was non-existent, so we've made a massive withdrawal
from what we've been trying to build. You
can put it in a batch with the last four or five weeks (the Pies have
lost four of their past five matches) but the players' effort was
still there in those games. We didn't see this coming, but the
last time we had a performance like this in round one, we had two
weeks post that and we went away and we came back with some real grit
and endeavour and that's clearly what we need right now."
Nathan Buckley
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COLLINGWOOD coach Nathan Buckley admitted he was shocked to see his side “dismantled” by Essendon in a performance he said was among the worst he’d seen this season.
Buckley didn’t mince words after the 64-point humiliation, in which the Pies were held to their lowest score — 5.9 (39) — in 17 years.
And the hammering — a fourth loss in five matches — resulted in an 11-point percentage swing that sees Collingwood drop to eighth on the ladder and in real danger of missing the finals.
“At times you looked across the field and it looked like Essendon had 20 blokes and we had 15,” Buckley said.
“We were pretty well dismantled. We looked at shifting our structures, at putting a number behind the ball, at squaring numbers up, but ultimately nothing that you do structurally is of any benefit if you don’t win the contest and you’re prepared to work hard in transition.
“You can put it in a batch with the last four or five weeks, but the players’ effort was still there in those games. We didn’t see this coming.”
Buckley said yesterday’s loss to Essendon was the worst since Collingwood was hammered in its season-opening game against Fremantle way back in March. The Pies laboured badly without the ball and when they had it, repeatedly turned it over.
“Since Round 1 that’s the most disappointed (I’ve been),” he said.
“Our effort was really poor, our execution was poor, our want and our endeavour to stay on task was non-existent, so we’ve made a massive withdrawal from what we’re trying to build.”
But, like that disastrous defeat to the Dockers, Collingwood has two weeks to lick its wounds courtesy of the bye — something Buckley hopes will again work in his side’s favour.
“We had two weeks post that and we went away and came back with some real grit and endeavour and that’s clearly what we need right now,” he said.
“Round 1 was a rude shock and sat us on our heels straight away. We trust what we do, but when it’s not actioned on the field questions are going to be asked. They’ll be demands made and they’ll need to be demands met ... and that’s what these next two weeks are going to be about for us.
“Every one of the players that represented today, you put yourself in the danger zone in regards to selection, no matter who you are or where you’ve been or what you’ve done.
“We’ll go back and have a look at who we think is going to come to the party and sacrifice for the good of the team. It’s the 22 that has to get it done and we just didn’t have enough blokes that were working for their teammates and playing their roles well enough.
Among a host of poor performers, Travis Cloke was held scoreless for the third time this season by All-Australian contender Cale Hooker.
But Buckley said his well-paid forward had his reasons.
“Trav has gastro,” he said.
“It’s no excuse, but he was under the weather today. I thought his effort was OK early, but we didn’t help him.”
Collingwood captain Scott Pendlebury has stressed the importance of attacking the team’s bye week with a positive mindset after Sunday’s 64-point loss to Essendon.
The result leaves the Magpies clinging onto the top eight on percentage with several tricky games remaining in the run to September.
But Pendlebury, and coach Nathan Buckley, noted the team’s approach to the bye will be fashioned on the way it responded to the 70-point loss to Fremantle in round one.
On that occasion, the Magpies used their week off to reload before flying to Sydney where they silenced the flag favourites with a 20-point win.
“The season’s not finished for us,” Pendlebury told CollingwoodTV after emerging from Buckley’s post-game meeting.
“A lot of people will write us off now but we’re eighth. If the finals start tomorrow, we’re in the finals.
“We’ve got a lot of work to do though.
“Two weeks (off) is a good thing. We can really attack these two weeks, train really well and come out all guns blazing against the Crows.”
Essendon gave Collingwood one of its most comprehensive beatings in many years, winning the tackle count with 67 to Collingwood’s 50 despite having 87 more disposals.
“We definitely didn’t sense that coming in,” Pendlebury lamented.
“The boys were ready. In the first quarter we missed some opportunities and they kicked straight all day. We got flogged around the ball and it starts and stops there.
“I think we’ve just got to get back to the basics. If we do the basics well, we play good football, and today there were just too many times where we left each other by ourselves.
“It starts around the footy. We’ve got to get better around the pill and we’ll address that.”
Essendon has stormed back into the top eight with a commanding 64-point
over a lacklustre Collingwood at the MCG on Sunday, a result that
suddenly puts the Magpies' own finals chances in jeopardy.
The Bombers, who had last been in the top eight at the end of
round four, set up their 16.7 (103) to 5.9 (39) win with a run of
eight unanswered goals from the start of the second quarter to midway
through the third term.
The big margin saw the Bombers climb from 10th on the ladder to
seventh, leapfrogging Collingwood, who slipped from sixth to eighth,
on percentage.
Jake Carlisle starred for the Bombers at both ends of the ground,
forming a dangerous tall duo in attack with Joe Daniher and working
back deep into defence to help cut off Collingwood spearhead Travis
Cloke's supply.
Carlisle finished with a career-best four goals and ruled the air
with an incredible 19 marks – including eight contested – in a clear
best-on-ground performance.
The Bombers' victory sends Gold Coast tumbling out of the eight
and, with skipper Gary Ablett (left shoulder) sidelined for the rest
of the season, the Suns' tilt at an historic first finals series is
now in serious peril.
The Magpies' finals hopes look healthier, but it was just five
weeks ago that they were sitting fourth on the ladder and aiming for
the double chance.
Those hopes seemed dashed now, with the Pies set to slip three
games outside the top-four if, as expected, Fremantle beats Greater
Western Sydney at Patersons Stadium on Sunday evening.
The Pies really only challenged Essendon in the first term, when
they won the inside 50 count (14-10) and had more scoring shots (6-4)
but butchered several chances in front of goal to go into quarter-time
eight points down.
From there the Bombers did as they pleased,
breaking the Pies' defensive lines with their run through the
midfield and making them pay up forward, both in the air through
Carlisle and Daniher and at ground level through Paul Chapman, Patrick
Ambrose (three goals each) and Zach Merrett (two goals).
Essendon's defensive pressure was also outstanding, with the Dons
often forcing the Pies to kick long inside their forward 50, making
life tough for Cloke.
Brent Stanton (32 possessions and one goal) and Dyson Heppell (29
possessions) were outstanding in an Essendon midfield missing Jobe
Watson and Brendon Goddard, while Cale Hooker kept Cloke goalless and
Jason Winderlich was creative across half-back.
Essendon coach Mark Thompson said he challenged his players to
step up and cover for the absence of key players Watson, Goddard and
Hibberd.
"That was the challenge - to step up, and they did," Thompson said.
"We looked like we were in control of the game. I think it's the
first time I've seen this group do that for four quarters on such a
big stage.
"I said to (Chairman) Paul Little before the game that I thought they'd been in a good frame of mind and I thought we'd be OK."
Collingwood
coach Nathan Buckley said the Pies' loss was their most disappointing
since their 70-point defeat by Fremantle in round one this year.
"We weren't strong in the contest, in transition we couldn't get
enough blokes behind the ball to defend when they went forward, we
couldn't get enough blokes in front of the ball when we had it,"
Buckley said.
"So we were outworked, outhustled through the contest and particularly disappointed with our inability to match contested ball."
Steele
Sidebottom was the Pies' best player (28 possessions), while Dayne
Beams (23 possessions and two goals) and Scott Pendlebury (23
possessions) battled hard through the midfield, while Jack Frost was
manful in defence against an avalanche of Bomber attacks.
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