Collingwood have set their sights on stopping Carlton co-captain Patrick Cripps, with Levi Greenwood in line to get the job as the AFL’s most famous rivalry takes centre stage on Sunday.
Both clubs’ finals hopes are on the line at the Gabba, where the traditional Victorian foes will do battle for the first time in 258 meetings over 124 years.
Tough stopper Greenwood returned from almost 12 months out with a knee injury in the Magpies’ win over North Melbourne last round and looms as the ideal match-up if they opt to for a tag on potential game-breaker Cripps.
“We know Cripps has been an elite player for a number of years,” Collingwood coach Nathan Buckley said.
“Regardless of Carlton’s team performance, his individual performance has been at an elite level throughout that time.
“As Carlton have improved, the focus on one player has diminished (but that) doesn’t mean he’s any less of a threat.
“We’ll be aware of him and have plans around how we have to handle a player such as him, but we have to believe in our capacity to impose our team style.”
As ever, the history and significance behind the Carlton-Collingwood rivalry looms large over Sunday’s contest in Brisbane.
But the two coaches are taking a strictly contemporary lens to the pending battle.
Entering round 14, first-year Blues boss David Teague has his side one win outside the top eight before his maiden Magpies encounter as coach.
“It’s another game, it’s an important game,” Teague said.
“I get it, the tradition, the rivalry but we live in the now to be honest. We’ve got a game to prepare for.
“We played some OK footy last week, we’ve got to get better and improve and we’ve done that this week.
“We’ve worked hard on it and I look forward to seeing how we execute and play our way on the weekend.”
Buckley echoed his counterpart’s sentiments.
“Something that happened 50 years ago is not going to support us getting the job done on Sunday,” he said.
“We’ve got enough motivation and meaning, even looking at the current situation that we’re in and coming up against a team that’s playing some really good footy.”
