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AFL greats Garry Lyon and Nathan Buckley have teed off on Collingwood’s lacklustre performance against GWS last Saturday night.
The Magpies fell by 32 points in their Opening Round bout at ENGIE Stadium, but they trailed by as many as 52 points in the final quarter.
The reigning premiers were unable to contain GWS’ high-speed transition and potent forward brigade, led by Callum Brown, Jesse Hogan and Brent Daniels, who accounted for a combined 13 of the Giants’ 18 majors.
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Collingwood was criticised for its overly aggressive defensive approach as Giants goal threats were often spotted in acres of space forward of the ball.
“There were just some things you looked at (against GWS) and you go ‘well, they probably didn’t handle it as well as they would’ve liked when they look back at it’,” Lyon started on Fox Footy’s On the Couch on Monday evening.
First, Lyon pointed to an example deep in Collingwood’s defensive half when skipper Darcy Moore elected to leave his direct opponent to impact the contest.
He noted that while the instinct is a part of Moore’s stellar repertoire, he doesn’t then have the credibility to challenge his back-six teammates when they take similar risks.
“Darcy Moore’s the captain. Now, this is not new for Darcy, but how do you go and then lead the team into this situation where (Isaac) Quaynor has got (Aaron) Cadman and he just lets him go?” Lyon asked.
“Cadman cruises up, Quaynor stays back in the goal square, Cadman sits there — (you’ve) got two guarding the goal square and none guarding Cadman, and Darcy Moore would be going ‘how can I pull you up when I’m playing two metres on the back of Jesse Hogan?’ So, (it’s) these little things, you know?”
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The Pies’ aggressive slingshot strategy in defence was a huge boost to their flag triumph last year, but it left them exposed on Saturday against a hungry GWS squad aiming to avenge its one-point preliminary final loss.
Next, Lyon cited a transition defence passage where superstars Jordan De Goey and Nick Daicos were caught ball-watching in the third term.
The duo failed to track back on prolific GWS midfielder Josh Kelly, who wound up taking an uncontested mark inside 50 for a set shot at goal.
“Then you look at this — you see De Goey and Daicos. Not once have they turned their head, not once did they turn their head to look at Josh Kelly — (they) still haven’t looked at him. Bang (he takes the mark). Third quarter, all over.”
Lyon maintained he hasn’t lost faith in the Magpies just one game in, but he said coach Craig McRae had a lot of improvement points to reference when they reviewed Saturday’s loss.
“No one is putting a line through Collingwood,” stated Lyon. “But there were little things there that Craig McRae’s going to be able to (scrutinise). I’m sure he’s got them and about 50 others to tick and just go ‘righto, boys, let’s just get back into this style of footy’.”
Buckley then issued his viewpoint on the game, referencing a disparity in defensive effort between the clubs.
“What I witnessed was a team (Collingwood) that, the system was great and they were in the right position early, but the willingness to work when the game moved was not as great as their opposition,” Buckley said.
“This is early in the last quarter … Jack Crisp makes a run and it needs to be covered, it ends up being that player, and then when I saw that it was the ruckman — Kieren Briggs — who had played a high game time at that point, you think OK (they’re switched on).
“Collingwood still got possession, but (Crisp) had to earn it, and I reckon GWS made Collingwood earn everything that they got, but Collingwood (wasn’t) able to do that on the flipside.”
Lyon concluded: “I know it’s a long bow, but it’s our first look at it, and we’ll watch with great interest to see whether they can address these things going forward.”
The Pies will be looking to avoid a 0-2 start to the year when they host Sydney at the MCG on Friday night.
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