Collingwood vs Brisbane Lions preview, Magpies problems explained, premiership hangover, will they go 0-4, analysis, latest news

Make no mistake, the reigning premiers’ season is on the line Thursday night. For what was once labeled a ‘premiership hangover’ is now a team in free fall.

Collingwood fights to avoid falling to 0-4 ahead of one of football’s toughest tests — Brisbane (who, bizarrely is also winless) at the Gabba in a critical grand final rematch.

Not exactly the grand final rematch we were expecting, although the stakes couldn’t be much higher for a Round 3 game.

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Like all reigning premiers, the Pies went into the 2024 season as one of the chief flag favourites, but in the space of three weeks — for as many losses — their prospects have rapidly gone south.

Questions have come far and wide on the club — from heart-on-sleeve coach Craig McRae, to the form of its struggling veteran stars, its clunky fundamentals, the game plan at large and everything in between.

It’s probably more a mental battle than anything for the Pies right now in trying to rediscover that inner belief, which has been such a strong trait over the last two years under McRae where they’ve overcome the near impossible over and over.

Bouncing back now is one of their biggest challenges yet.

Looking at it through a coaching lens, dual premiership Kangaroo David King implored McRae to “use the lot” against Brisbane and go absolute “chips in” to try and get the desired response from his troops — and almost treat it like a final.

“If I’m Craig McRae I’m all chips in for one performance,” King told Fox Footy’s The First Crack.

“I’m rooting for these guys within an inch of their lives — Brisbane in Brisbane doesn’t get any bigger or better, What a great challenge.

“Don’t let the football world read the last rights Thursday night. It’s time to stand up as a footy club, I think they’ve got it in them.”

As mentioned, the form of the club’s stalwarts has come under fire.

Triple premiership Lion Jonathan Brown declared the Pies’ era led by Scott Pendlebury and Steele Sidebottom is “coming to the end” and that McRae needs his next wave of leaders to step up.

Some have even questioned if the club could make a selection statement on Wednesday night. In the end it was, for the third straight game, the management of a veteran player – with Steele Sidebottom sidelined, following Will Hoskin-Elliott (Round 2) and Tom Mitchell (Round 1). Oleg Markov was omitted, replaced by fellow dasher John Noble.

For dual All-Australian Leigh Montagna, the Pies should also look at positional changes to “stimulate” some of their underperforming stars.

“I’d look at moving Jack Crisp forward and say: ‘Strip it back to basics — use your speed, discipline and tackle pressure to get after the opposition’,” he told The First Crack.

“I’d throw (Beau) McCreery or (Isaac) Quaynor in some center bounces and say: ‘You’ve got some energy, spunk and physicality about you. Get to work early wand we’ll spit you back into your positions’.

“Just look to change it up and maybe manage a couple of the older players that haven’t been quite getting it done and bring some youth in there. Don’t underestimate what youth can do.

“I wouldn’t be surprised if there’s a few changes for the Magpies to spark them up.”

Perhaps Collingwood’s biggest concern on the field is that there are problems everywhere — not just one or two things.

To name a few, the defense has been uncharacteristically leaky, largely due to clumsy turnovers further up the field. The forward half has at times looked dysfunctional including a lack of aerial power, while the supply going in has been poor.

And aside from Nick Daicos, who some have called to be moved back to half back, none of the other midfielders have played well.

The usual frenetic energy on both sides of the ball and general spark is missing.

Former Collingwood coach Nathan Buckley highlighted the challenges of trying to put out so many spot fires while in McRae’s position, saying it ultimately comes down to “gut feel” and embracing your DNA.

“You can access as many opinions as you like, you can speak to your match committee, go to your leaders, look at the evidence statistically and the video. You might even listen to a bit of opinion externally. But after that, you’re going to trust your gut and go back to your philosophy as a coach — that’s what you learn as you go along,” Buckley told SEN.

“You’ve got to go back to the elements of your method of coaching and how you think the game should be played. That’s what Craig will be going through right now. From coaching with him, his coaching philosophy is to coach the strengths, find the positive and reinforce the positive.

“The (Collingwood) edge is: ‘We’re winners and this is what winners do. No losers limp, we don’t feel sorry for ourselves and we hold our heads high. We understand sometimes we’re going to fall short, but then we’ve got to do the work and make sure next time, we can bridge that gap.’

“There’s some games that come around where you just need to find a way for the scoreboard to look the way you want it to at the end of the game regardless of the process and what you do. This is one of those games.”

Buckley ultimately believes the Magpies’ underwhelming performances could be more a by-product of a team trying too hard to perform amid high-pressure stakes — not a team lacking motivation.

“Most of the conversation has been they’re not at the level and have come off a couple of percent because maybe it’s a premiership hangover and it doesn’t mean as much,” he continued.

“I find more often it’s not actually a ‘less than’ mentality that leads to what seems like a drop off in effort and intensity, it’s often going over the top and trying to prove something.

“When I see these missed handballs, I see the players in some ways overreaching to try and avoid being labeled with the ‘hangover’.

“Maybe it’s pulling the anxiety back a little bit. But when you’re 0-3 and need to win, there is anxiety and expectation internally and externally.

“The margins of comfort and high performance are a lot smaller now than they were for Collingwood the last couple of years. It is really challenging as a coach to find that.”