ALTHOUGH Collingwood kicked its highest score under his tenure, coach Sam Wright was disappointed with his side's inability to defend in the second half.
On Saturday afternoon against Geelong, the Pies were only three points in arrears at the main break but a worrying trend continued in the third quarter, giving up six goals for the term to blow out the margin.
Collingwood is yet to win a third quarter this year, having conceded an average of 25.3 points in the third this year.
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"We were really disappointed in the second half, and the scores that were coming against us. So, we're going to have to have a look at that … we're really disappointed with that last half, in particular that third quarter," he said.
"(We've) spoken about it a lot, but the ability to come out and understand the pressure in the game is going to go up and we have to adjust our style and our system a little bit to that.
"We're trying to work through it ourselves. I think (the) pressure goes up, that's number one from the opposition. You have a really good first half, the pressure is going to increase. So, I think there's some things that we can do around the way that we set the field up."
Method in attack was a clear improvement for Collingwood, however, with more players getting on the end of goals, rather than continuing to rely on captain Ruby Schleicher to kick the bulk of its goals.
Seven different Pies kicked majors – the club's equal-most in its history, and most since round eight, 2022 S6 – signalling a shift in how they are attacking the game.
Many of those players celebrated with an 'M' hand signal, referencing absent first-year forward Mischa Barwin who ruptured her ACL in Friday's training session after having played in every game to start the season.
For Geelong, that early scoring power from Collingwood was a concern, with the Pies using end-to-end transition footy to get into dangerous positions.
"Thankfully, our centre bounce and stoppage work kept us in the game. But yeah, they were able to transition from end-to-end far, far too easily. They were making the ground nice and big, and we just couldn't defend quick enough and potentially just collapsing in around the ball, and they were able to open us up," Geelong coach Mick Stinear said.
"It wasn't sustainable to keep playing that way. But (we were) pleased with the second half. It felt much better balanced, able to play some good time in forward half, and not just relying on our stoppage work as a score source. We were getting scores from turnover and being able to keep the ball in our forward half for longer."
The Cats are currently ensconced in the top four, and on a five-game winning streak, but Stinear is clear that there's still work to do.
"We're really clear with what we want the program to look like and the brand of footy we want to play, so I think that's starting to come through. And the feedback from player is, obviously, winning is helping, but they're actually enjoying playing for each other. I think a lot of things we've set up at the start of the year, it's certainly heading in the right way," Stinear said.
"The challenge for us now is, we feel like we're a good team at the moment in the competition, but we want to be great. And will that happen next week for us, or thing season, or are we going to have to be a bit more patient? So, it's up to us, I think, and the playing group to really grab it and put in a disciplined performance for four quarters.
"And then I think we start pushing towards that top end in the competition. But right now, we’re still inconsistent. Our best can compete with the best, but there's a bit of a gap for us that we want to close in the back half of the season."
