Collingwood coach Nathan Buckley has threatened to wield the axe as he searches for answers following the Magpies’ 64-point loss to the Essendon Bombers at the MCG yesterday.
After looking like AFL premiership contenders at the start of the season, the Magpies have lost four of their past five games and are in danger of falling out of the top eight. The slide isn’t sitting well with Buckley, who accused his players of not putting in against the resurgent Bombers. He said the defeat was the club’s worst since being thrashed by Fremantle in the opening week.
“Since Round 1, that’s the most disappointed I’ve been,” Buckley said in yesterday’s press conference. “Our effort was really poor, our execution was poor, our want and endeavour to stay on task was non-existent, so we’ve made a massive withdrawal from what we’re trying to build.”
Buckley said there were no signs at training such a wretched display was brewing. “We didn’t see this coming,” he said. “But last time we had a performance like this in Round 1, we had two weeks post that, and we went away and came back with some real grit and endeavour. That’s clearly what we need right now.”
With Round 18 a split round, the Magpies have two weeks to prepare for their next match against a similarly desperate Adelaide. Buckley said there would be changes to his line-up.
“Some of it will be availability, some of it will be form,” he said. “Basically every one of the players who represented us today, you put yourself in a danger zone in relation to selection, no matter who you are, no matter where you’ve been or what you’ve done.”
