Collingwood are unlikely to make wholesale team changes for their AFL clash with Greater Western Sydney, with coach Nathan Buckley instead concentrating on the Magpies’ ball use going into attack.
The Magpies are 1-2 after suffering an after-the-siren one-point loss to Brisbane last Thursday but Buckley wasn’t keen to flinch at the selection table.
“When you lose the game by a point, you’ve obviously done enough right to be in the game for a long time,” Buckley told reporters on Wednesday.
“We were ahead on the scoreboard for most of the match – so we’re pretty confident with the team we went in with last week.
“Whether it remains the same – we’ll finish selection this afternoon.”
The Magpies struggled at times to connect going forward against Brisbane – taking just seven marks inside 50 despite 53 entries.
Buckley emphasised his marking forwards weren’t the issue, instead honing in on decision-making and execution from the midfield.
“I don’t think it was on the receiving end last week,” he said.
“If we break it down, we had players that were out and not utilised – so that’s the capacity to find time and space through the midfield.
“Brisbane’s pressure was good but we helped them with some poor execution and (if we can improve that) I think you’ll see us taking more marks inside 50 as a result.”
Buckley said the Magpies had taken the opportunity of a nine-day break to emphasise improving their delivery.
“Our last kick is something that we need to continue to work on and we’ve done a bit of work on it this week,” he said.
“This is our first longer break – nine days – it gave us a bit of time to reflect, time to get a little bit of extra work in, so we’re looking forward to Saturday.
Gun defender Brayden Maynard and Giants star Toby Greene look set to revisit their feisty match-up, while Buckley said ruck-forward Darcy Cameron had again pressed his case for selection with strong VFL practice match form
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