‘Can’t sit on your hands’ Nathan Buckley flags mass changes after loss to GWS Giants
A desolate Nathan Buckley has flagged mass changes after Collingwood slumped to a 1-3 start to the 2020 season with a loss to an undermanned Giants side.
A week after being beaten after the siren, Collingwood came into the match as hot favourites, but failed to impress as the Giants romped to a 30-point victory.
When questioned after the match about whether he would make changes, Buckley said that the Magpies brains’ trust will look at all options moving forward.
“You’re 1-3, and you can’t sit on your hands,” he said.
“We think we’ve picked the best sides to get results and we haven’t, so we’ve got to look at changes. Whether that’s the way we play, whether we strip things back, the way we prepare or personnel.
“There’s plenty of things that will be assessed in that regard.”
Former Hawthorn premiership star Jordan Lewis said that change after the first month of a season was not uncommon among coaches, saying Alastair Clarkson often did so.
“That’s what you struggle with as a coach because you go through the whole pre-season thinking this is the way that the game is going,” he told Fox Footy.
“The good coaches understand that there’s a period of the first three to four weeks that they get a chance to see whether it works. If it doesn’t, then you’ve got to change.
“Alastair Clarkson nearly every year would change something around round three or four because the game is not going the way that he thought he would.”
Lewis added that a change in the game plan could spark the players, rather than leaving them deflated.
“It can reinvigorate you to be honest because you can feel that the way you’re playing isn’t working,” he said.
“Clearly the ladder suggests that it’s not working, so as a player, to get a new way of looking at it might be good for them.
