Collingwood is confident of bouncing back against St Kilda in Round 2 after a strong session on the track early in the week.
The Magpies underwent a heavy training session at the AIA Centre on Tuesday morning, eager to turnaround their 0-2 start.
A little over 48 hours out from the Saints fixture at the MCG, two Magpies shared the same exact sentiment: “Exactly what we needed”.
In his first year at the Pies and following two promising performances to start the campaign, former Docker Lachie Schultz indicated what he hopes to see change.
“Exactly what we needed… The boys got after it,” he said following the session in a video posted to Collingwood’s Instagram story.
“We want to get the ball forward and lock it in our front half. High pressure, high intensity and hold our territory.”
In both games to start the season, the Pies have come close or won the inside 50 count, yet still conceded big scores. As noted by Craig McRae on Friday night, Collingwood has never turned the ball over in such fashion under his leadership, with his defence largely at sea against two admittedly strong opponents in the Giants and Swans.
Should Collingwood lose to St Kilda this week, they would become just the third premiers in 49 years to be 0-3 the following year. It occurred to Geelong last year, with Chris Scott’s men never getting go ing in 2023. The last time before that came back in 1975 with the VFL premiers.
But defender Brayden Maynard, who was one of Collingwood’s best in last week’s 33-point loss, suggested that won’t be the case.
“High standard, a lot of energy, exactly what we needed. We just had a real big focus on energy… just making sure we’re having fun while we’re doing it,” he added of Tuesday's training.
“It was a bit windy today but we were able to get it done. A good day on the track. Watch this space.”
SEN analyst David King believes the Pies’ problems can be fixed in a timely fashion.
When asked if he’d rather be Brisbane or Collingwood, with both Grand Finalists 0-2 for the first time in history, King responded: “I still think you'd rather be Collingwood because I still think it's correctable and you can get them going and I talked about the gap being a metre … I think you're going to see them give a response.”
The Pies and Saints meet at 7:30pm AEDT at the ‘G.
