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Cornes’ concern for Collingwood star "devoid of confidence"
SEN • August 4th, 2025 10:28 am
What a difference a month can make in footy.
At the start of July, Collingwood were looking likely to cruise to a top-two finish despite the pre-season noise around his ageing squad.
Now, Craig McRae’s side have suffered three defeats in four games and come up against Hawthorn at the MCG after just a five-day turnaround this week before a trip to Adelaide.
The cracks are showing, and Kane Cornes was shocked by what he saw unfold as the Pies went down by 27-points to the Lions at the weekend – Brisbane’s first victory over their rivals at the MCG in 11 years.
Highlighting some of the issues the Pies are facing, Cornes said nothing had surprised him more than Dan Houston.
“At this point in the year there’s a lot of problems,” Cornes said on SEN Fireball.
“Collingwood seem to have so many little spot fires to fix.
“Nothing has shocked me more this year than Dan Houston’s inability to fit into this unit.
“I’ve been so wrong this year on Houston and his ineffectiveness in this group. It’s a real problem; he is a player devoid of any confidence. I can’t believe it.
“If they’re relying on Jeremy Howe at 35 with dodgy groins.
“This was the issue at the start of the year, can this older group get through whole season? Can they manage them?
“They’ve done a great job but can they manage them through a finals series?
“There’s questions still on Hill and De Goey.
“Frampton, you’re telling me Frampton is going to be the saviour? There are issues.
“It’s a long bow to stretch to say these guys are going to get them back on track.”
While Cornes’ co-host David King also has his concerns with the Magpies, he’s refusing to put a line through the team and Houston just yet, despite calling for Craig McRae to look at something different at half-back to help give the side back its dare.
“He (Houston) is a talent I'm reluctant to absolutely put a line through Collingwood,” King said.
“I see De Goey do what he did in patches, he played the 60 minutes and was managed to within an inch of his life.
“(Beau) McCreery makes them a better team with the defensive weapon that he is.
“You throw Howe in, and I think Frampton will be in their best line-up down back to allow Moore to get out of full back.
“I just think there's so many levers he can pull, but I do think he needs to explore whether it's Nick (Daicos) or Scott Pendlebury at halfback again, because they've lost their dare.”
Collingwood next face Hawthorn in a huge clash at the MCG on Thursday night.
