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“Old, underprepared, unfit and slow”: Scathing assessment of Collingwood in wake of GWS defeat
Andrew Slevison • March 10th, 2025 11:01 am
Old, underprepared, unfit and slow.
That is what Kane Cornes described Collingwood as in the wake of Sunday’s 52-point Opening Round defeat to GWS.
The Magpies won the clearance battle 40-36, centre clearances 12-8, contested possessions 139-118, and inside 50s narrowly 55-54, but were beaten for speed on the outside by a slick Giants outfit.
Referencing a stat from Sir Swamp Thing on X, Cornes said he was worried that the Pies, to him, “looked old and slow”.
“The Collingwood team, with an average age of 28years and 82 days, is the oldest that any club has put on the park for their first game of the season,” Cornes said on SEN Breakfast.
“And they looked it, they looked old and slow. It’s the only conclusion I can find after yesterday.
“They looked old, they looked underprepared, they looked unfit, they looked slow. The Giants, with an average age of 24, ran all over the top of them.
“As we put on the agenda prior to the season, this was always going to be a watch. While you try not to react over one game, that is what struck me.”
Cornes has concerns that the Pies weren’t missing as many key players as the Giants, who were without Tom Green and Jesse Hogan, and also lost ruckman Kieren Briggs early in the contest.
With the age profile of the Pies, he cannot see them finding the speed and swiftness required to challenge sides like GWS.
“I’m not sure it’s going to get any better because this Collingwood team, unlike the Giants, is pretty healthy,” Cornes added.
“Jordan De Goey will come back at some stage but I’m not sure what you can expect from De Goey with no pre-season whatsoever, the history with his body and his age.
“It’s not going to get much better. They’ll get some injuries for sure with the age (profile).
“(Scott) Pendlebury at 37 was just average. (Dan) McStay, (Darcy) Cameron and (Darcy) Moore are 29 and apart from Cameron the two other were pretty average, (Steele) Sidebottom is 34 and was average, (Tim) Membrey didn’t touch it, (Will) Hoskin-Elliott was subbed out, it wasn’t (Jeremy) Howe’s best game, (Brody) Mihocek eh, (Jack) Crisp had his 20 but was really ineffective, and Jamie Elliott at 32 was pretty good with his two goals.
“It’s an issue and one that’s not going to get any better or be solved anytime soon.”
Adding to Cornes’ concerns, co-host David King wanted to put the spotlight on 37-year-old Scott Pendlebury who was well below his best in the heavy loss.
“You put a little asterisk and you track it going forward,” King said.
“I’m looking fairly and squarely at Scott Pendlebury. We’ve never questioned Scott.
“For the first time in a long time he looked disengaged with the defensive side of the game. He got caught with the ball three or four times.
“He just looked like he didn’t have the speed of the game in hand like he normally does.”
King worries for Collingwood’s midfield unit and has implored upcoming opponents to focus on speed out of the middle in order to beat Craig McRae’s outfit.
“The problem that you’ve got with this now is that nothing is missed in AFL football anymore. The scouting done against these mids will only exacerbate this problem,” King added.
“Now you will see Port Adelaide, the Western Bulldogs and Carlton - their next three opponents - they will say they’ve got to put speed on the game post clearance.
“We’ve got to get a metre on Pendlebury and that will be enough. We’ve got to get goal-side of Nick Daicos because he goes one speed forward and one speed backwards, and they’re totally different speeds.
“I’m looking at the stoppage crew and can you persist with that group.
“We do have to keep in mind that the numbers say this is a game they probably weren’t going to win, but it’s alarming what happened on the field.”
The Pies will be intent on bouncing back against Port Adelaide at the MCG on Saturday night.
