COLLINGWOOD coach Nathan Buckley is demanding a lift from his powerful midfield for Thursday night’s AFL blockbuster against Richmond.
In the lead-up to round one, the depth and class of the Magpies’ onballers was lauded as one of their biggest weapons.
But last Friday night’s loss to Geelong has Buckley demanding more grunt.
He qualified the comment, saying it was a concern across the board against the Cats, but Buckley also noted that it starts in the middle and that’s where many of their leaders are found.
“We were beaten in the midfield last week, so that’s a consideration for us,” he said.
“You can look at all the names and the ratings for years gone past as much as you like – midfields that get the job done are the ones that are prepared to get their hands dirty and work the hardest both ways.”
“We’ve been a really good team, a really good club, at doing that in recent times.
“It wasn’t a highlight of our performance in Round 1 and we were shown up in that regard, so we have some work to do there.”
Defensive midfielder Levi Greenwood could return to the side and would be an obvious matchup for Dustin Martin.
Star ruckman Brodie Grundy was noticeably quiet against Geelong, but Buckley is not overly concerned.
“It’s just one game of footy and he’ll respond,” Buckley said.
Ball use was also an issue against the Cats, but Buckley said bigger issues were their grunt and onfield structure.
“We just need to get our hands dirty … winning more of the ball in tight, controlling more field position,” he said.
“There are some things that we need to get sorted before we even consider how we use the ball.”
While the loss of key defender Alex Rance is a massive blow for Richmond, Buckley said it would make their defence less predictable.
Drawing on Collingwood’s experiences last year, he also noted that Rance’s injury could spur the Tigers.
“I have no doubt it galvanises the Tigers boys as well – we were in some similar situations last year,” he said.
Lynden Dunn was one of the Magpies’ casualties last year with a knee reconstruction and he will resume this weekend in the VFL.
Buckley added Taylor Adams (finger) should return in the next couple of weeks and Ben Reid (leg) also is about a fortnight away from playing in the VFL.
© AAP 2019