Collingwood coach Nathan Buckley is adamant that his under-performing AFL team will respond in Friday night’s blockbuster against arch-rivals Carlton.
The Magpies slipped to eighth with last Saturday’s 35-point loss to Carlton and so far have failed to build any momentum this season.
But Buckley is confident Collingwood will rally, starting this Friday against their fiercest rivals.
“We’ve had some really strong chats in this very room and if we don’t get a spike out of our players this week, I will be very surprised,” he said at Tuesday’s media conference.
“We’re a proud group, we understand there’s a lot of commentary and speculation that’s out and around there at the moment.
“When you lose games of footy, that happens.
“We’ll have 22 fierce competitors who will go out with a Magpie jumper on, with the opportunity to head us in the right direction.”
Asked if last Saturday was a blip, Buckley replied: “we couldn’t get the ball into our forward line, we couldn’t win any ball through the midfield and Port just overran us, out-hunted us, out-worked us.
“So absolutely we’re disappointed with that.
“Do we feel it’s a blip? Well, it’s our most recent example of how we’re playing the game and, geez, we want to be better than that.”
Buckley said his side was not lazy, but acknowledged it needed to work harder.
“The overwhelming part of it is Port Adelaide wanted to win more than we did,” he said.
“Port Adelaide out-worked us – we’re embarrassed by that.”
Last year’s best-and-fairest winner Dayne Beams and utility Tyson Goldsack will resume from injury this weekend in the VFL.
While that is good news, Buckley said the pair needed to rebuild match fitness quickly.
“We’re running out of time in regards to getting some momentum going,” he said.
“We don’t want to be waiting until round 21-22 to be putting our best side together.
“We’ve missed Beamsy, we’ve missed Goldy – we would like to get those blokes in.
“But it’s got to be a case-by-case – if they’re right to go, they’ll come in, if not, then they’ll get the extra week.”