Reigning premier Collingwood might be 0-2 to start the AFL season. But North Melbourne legend David King has a simple message: Don’t panic yet.
The Magpies have suffered losses by a total of 65 points to both Sydney teams in a shaky start to their flag defence, currently sitting 15th on the ladder to come under scrutiny from the AFL world.
It included Collingwood conceding 78 points from turnover in Friday night’s defeat to the Swans — its third-worst ever result under Craig McRae.
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For King, however, there’s one key area of Collingwood’s game letting it down — an area that’s made it so successful and is causing everything else to fall apart.
King on Fox Footy’s The First Crack highlighted a series of clips from the defeat to Sydney that showed the “investment” of Pies players “not quite 100 per cent” and their usual aggressive on-ball pressure “just a metre off” — leaving opposition players out the back.
Swans run riot against poor Pies | 01:59
“Craig McRae is an aggressive coach and this is why they are where they are. You look at the way they play — when they go, they go as a group and invest in numbers. When it breaks down, it looks awful,” King began on The First Crack.
“As soon as you don’t go, no one stops the footy and you don’t interrupt the ball. All of a sudden you leave an investment in no man’s land.
“Everyone says they’ve got offensive problems and defensive problems, (but) everything relates to this. Winning the ball like this gives you the outnumber and you can go.
“To me it’s just a metre. How do you find that metre? I think two or three honest conversations and a discussion here or there.
“Because this to me looks a little bit timid and reactive. This is what makes you look average as a back six and your defensive numbers look horrendous — they’re giving up a goal one in every three entries — and not getting that pure counter punch.”
Bizarre high five epitomises ‘lazy’ Pies | 01:03
Despite Collingwood’s slow start to 2024, King — like McRae — wasn’t buying into talk of a premiership hangover, as some have suggested.
“I don’t think it’s a big change. Everyone wants to talk about premiership hangovers, I don’t see that yet. I see it being a metre off. If you watch that game again, you will see that metre everywhere,” he added.
“Just hold your bullets on Collingwood and we’ll revisit this is another three or four weeks.”
St Kilda legend Leigh Montagna agreed that McRae’s side was only “slightly off” in a few key areas including its “reaction time and intent to defend,” suggesting there wasn’t yet major cause for concern.
Montagna also showed vision from the Swans loss where Collingwood players didn’t commit defensively as they did last year.
“Not quite the intent we would’ve seen from this Collingwood team the back end of last season and through the finals,” Montagna said on Fox Footy.
“They’re just not quite on the same page. I think it’s fixable and an intent thing. We know their talent and system still stacks up, but another team that needs to get moving to get back into the season.”`
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