BUOYANT Collingwood coach Nathan Buckley has hit back at the club's critics, insisting his team is on the right track.
Following the Magpies' convincing 41-point dismantling of Carlton at the MCG on Friday night, Buckley took the unusual step of ending his post-match press conference with a statement after questions from reporters had finished.
"Last thing: we had seven of the youngest eight players on the field tonight," Buckley said.
"Carlton have eight top-10 draft picks, and we have four.
"Some scribes were saying during the week that they've had a better season than us.
"It's not about Carlton versus Collingwood, but I reckon it's time for a reality check to assess where we're at.
"We're doing all right."
With the win, Collingwood jumped three games clear of the Blues, and at 9-5, is guaranteed to finish the weekend in the top eight.
Carlton, by contrast, is looking increasingly unlikely to feature in September in its first season under former Magpies coach Mick Malthouse.
After seeing his club heavily criticised for its performance against Port Adelaide last week, Buckley was happy with the response – particularly given the Magpies had to overcome a slow start that saw Carlton race to a 28-point lead late in the first term.
"We obviously didn't come out of the gates really well – we were nearly five goals down – but the last five minutes of the last quarter showed that there was a response, and there was fight," Buckley said.
"We weren't very clean with the ball and we weren't very good around the stoppages in the first 15 minutes, and that really cost us … but once the game stabilised, we thought we dominated it."
A pivotal moment came when Carlton spearhead Jarrad Waite left the field with a knee injury during the first quarter.
Buckley immediately pushed Ben Reid forward and, in tandem with Travis Cloke, the pair took hold of the game, finishing with four and five goals respectively.
The Magpies coach did not want to pin all of the credit for the turnaround on Reid's performance, saying his midfield and ruckmen had been important in taking control at stoppages.
But, having had to rely heavily on Cloke as a forward target all season, he admitted he would like to use Reid in front of goals more often.
"Personnel would allow us to [play Reid forward] a lot more," he said.
"Lachy Keeffe is coming up through the VFL [after a knee reconstruction] and needs more time.
"Corey Gault, we're sort of looking at in that second ruck/forward role.
"Obviously 'Browny' (Nathan Brown) has been fantastic for us, and Quinten Lynch is there, and Jackson Paine is around the mark.
"We'd like to play three tall forwards …'Reidy' has been a luxury today because of the forward set-up of the opposition.
"We would've hoped to have been able to get him forward and use him as a swingman at stages this evening, even if Jarrad Waite stayed in the game.
"We'll look to do that a little bit more."
