Collingwood Round 4: Dreams of the green grass that is Don Pyke

I for one am ready for the coaching change. Under Nathan Buckley we have had one really good year in ten and it still seems like we are trying to play the same footy we were ten years ago.

Long down the line to a contest, rinse and repeat. There’s a problem with this. Not only is this strategy old and long figured out, we are losing the contest of this contest heavy strategy.

I have held faith we could change and adapt, I have defended Buckley and turned a blind eye to the inherent weakness in his strategy. No more.

That one really good year coincided with our forward line being on fire. They all seemed to be in form. Jordan De Goey and Jayden Stephenson electrified the forward 50.

Brody Mihocek was marking and following up and accurate enough to be a gold star first round draft pick. Josh Thomas and Will Hosking-Elliot fed off their dominance and kicked goals to show their thanks.

Since that year we have felt disjointed. Felt unwilling to work for each other. Many fans will know the feeling of the ball seeming to bounce the opposition way. Like the sports gods are punishing their team. I am a firm believer in “effort brings luck”.

That luck is a direct result of a team fighting like what their doing means something. The Pies do not look an ounce like they are inspired at the moment. That culture is a leadership issue. Either Nathan Buckley does not have the belief of the playing group or the playing group is unable to execute his plan.

Jordan De Goey and Jeremy Howe of the Magpies (Photo by Quinn Rooney/Getty Images)

I lean towards the former. I will give Buckley this, his defence is great. So great that we look like we want to turn the ball over just to play defence. A lesson could be learnt from the injection of Don Pyke’s offensive intent on the Swans.

The only difference is I don’t think Buckley’s respect as a head coach comes close to matching Horses’. The playing group needs a change. Don Pyke is our man.

On a wet and cold night there is always one constant, effort wins games. We were thoroughly out matched in this department. The Giants midfield lacking Stephen Coniglio, Lachie Whitfield and Brayden Pruess, out worked and out classed what was only last year touted as the best midfield in the game minus Adam Treloar.

Strangely Buckley’s masterstrokes consisted of moving what I see as the most pure midfielder in the game in Scott Pendlebury into attack where he can use his ok marking and ok kicking for goal as the Sherlock Holmes-like solution to our goal kicking woes. Then even better moving Jack Madgen on to a wing where he can use his below average kicking to slice open our opponents like a scalpel.

To add insult to injury Brodie Grundy was beaten soundly by a once retired 34-year-old Shane Mumford. When did our fine wine ruckman turn into week old bin juice?

I remember the first game Grundy played against Mumford, A 18-year-old kid came up against the most feared hard man in the AFL. Grundy proceeded to rag him around the field like he stole his wallet. What a sad moment to watch a fully matured Grundy get embarrassed by an old man.

Mason Cox. He is now 30 years old. At what point will his so-called potential come to fruition. The best thing he did on Saturday night was put a step on two opposition players. That’s like buying a dairy cow that barks and catches a frisbee, but will only produce milk when its a full moon. He is not an AFL full forward.

Mason Cox of the Magpies (Photo by Quinn Rooney/Getty Images)

I’ll put my hand up, I have called for De Goey forward all year. He did not have a good game. He is still a forward. Hand up again I like Jack Crisp in the middle and he played plenty there on Saturday night. I thought he was good there and belongs. I’m bullish on those two positional moves.

Brayden Maynard spoke this week about getting back to his aggression, and that he hoped the opposition would be aggressive back to get him more fired up. There was a time when he entered games like he was the water boy and someone told him Gatorade was better.

He was the ultimate Bobby Boucher. Yet he did not fire a shot.

If it was up to me I would have started him on Toby Greene, that snake could get an ice berg fired up. But at the end of the day he should have been fired up if he was playing on Ghandi.

The problem isn’t that there aren’t good players or positive performances and potential that can be seen. The problem is that to spite that, to spite the talent we possess, we put up performances lacking ticker, lacking spine, lacking good old-fashioned mongrel.

We started the game with a decent amount of intent, until the system failed over and over and like the rising of the sun every morning, doubt creeped into our players. We were beaten. They believed, we did not.

We need to start thinking of a coach that makes players believe. One that could get them to believe so much they trusted a cult with their mental preparation. One that has learnt the lessons of opening a club to a cult and still has the skills and knowledge to coach a team in the modern game. Bring me Don Pyke.

Next week we face the Eagles in the West. I don’t know if I would be happy or sad if Buckley imposed some belief on us enough to win. Because like my opinions on the Pies week to week, his ability to coach seems to yo-yo like a mad man.