Leigh Matthews has fears that Robert Harvey will not be able to show his best during his stint as Collingwood interim coach.
The 1990 Magpies premiership coach believes Harvey is in a tricky situation in that he is not necessarily a new voice for the playing group due to his time spent as Nathan Buckley’s assistant.
Matthews is also of the belief that the way the Pies are playing in 2021, first under Buckley, simply won’t allow Harvey to flourish in his trial run for a permanent senior coaching role.
“Collingwood had their best game of the season in Bucks’ farewell game (against Melbourne),” he said on Sportsday.
“You never got the view or the look that they were disgruntled or dispirited or they really had the s--ts with the coach, as we say. It didn’t look that way.
“So Bucks left and Harvs has come in, but I don’t think he’s going to have that resurgence that you sometimes get from a new voice, because he’s been there for a long time too.
“In a way, it’s a bit of a bad situation for the caretaker coach. It’s going to be very hard for Robert Harvey to do anything to promote his senior coaching aspirations, I would think.
“Where they are is where they are, but I think poor old Harvs has taken over after their best game of the year.”
The Magpies were beaten by Fremantle by 12 points in Harvey’s first game in charge in Round 15 before going down to St Kilda by nine points last weekend, having trailed by 43 at three-quarter time.
Gerard Healy commented briefly on the performance of the Pies who at times failed to run defensively against the Saints.
“I’ve never seen worse vision that Garry Lyon showed last night on The Couch, of a side not trying in running back into defence,” Healy said.
“Yet they kicked six to save their bacon, to a degree, in the last quarter.”
Collingwood sits 16th on the ladder and continue the search for a first win under Harvey against arch rivals Richmond at the MCG on Sunday.