Collingwood coach Nathan Buckley admits the Magpies are still playing way below their potential, ahead of Wednesday’s big Anzac Day AFL clash with unbeaten Essendon.
Collingwood notched a much-needed 14.13 (97) to 10.13 (73) win over Port Adelaide at Etihad Stadium on Saturday, thanks mainly to a dominant first quarter, which put them 33 points clear.
The Power suffered a cruel blow, losing talented forward Robbie Gray to what is almost certainly an anterior cruciate ligament injury just seconds before fulltime.
Coming off a huge loss to Carlton and missing numerous injured players, there were some signs of improvement for Collingwood.
But Buckley said while the pressure the Magpies applied to the Power was much greater than they managed against the Blues, it was far from perfect.
“We’re at about 60 per cent of what we’re capable of in that regard,” the coach said.
“Some of that’s fitness, some of it’s structure, some of it’s personnel. We’re still building.”
The Magpies had faced a horror week after the belting from Carlton, as they dealt with injuries to Luke Ball, Ben Reid, Dale Thomas and Heath Shaw and a public spat between president Eddie McGuire and ex-coach Mick Malthouse.
Buckley said it was a relief to play another game, so having just four days before facing the Bombers was no problem.
“This week was a long one mentally and emotionally, the game felt like it took 100 days to get there,” he said.
“The fact that we’ve got a short break into the next one, I reckon the players are looking forward to it.”
He praised the senior players for their steadying influence both during the week and against the Power.
Midfield star Scott Pendlebury, tagged out of the game against Carlton, and running defender Harry O’Brien, who was also well down, both returned to top form on Saturday.
Dane Swan (36 disposals) and Travis Cloke (four goals) were also important.
Collingwood’s under-sized defence stood up well, despite missing key backmen Reid, Chris Tarrant and Nathan Brown against a very tall Power attack, with the defensive rebound, led by O’Brien, proving a key weapon.
But Buckley said with six players with 20 games or less of AFL experience in the side, the senior players carried a heavy load.
“(The younger players) are not used to the intensity and the workrate that’s required at AFL standard and we’ve thrown a few blokes to the wolves in that regard,” he said.
Brown and Alan Didak, who both played VFL on Saturday, are in contention to make AFL comebacks against Essendon.
Power coach Matthew Primus blamed costly mistakes in the first term for creating a deficit they were never going to erase.
“They tackled really intensely in the first quarter and made us cough the ball up,” he said.
“Our inability to hold the ball in and the way we coughed it up, that cost us goals.”
