COLLINGWOOD coach Nathan Buckley has conceded the Magpies have "fallen short" of internal expectations this season, but won't change their approach to selection despite their finals prospects appearing shot.
Friday night's loss to the Sydney Swans has made the Pies' task of reaching September close to impossible.
But Buckley says they'll remain firm on picking the most deserving team each week, rather than employing a youth policy for the remaining rounds as they look to salvage something from a season that started brightly but has since been blighted by a string of narrow losses.
"We still want to pick our best side. We believe we've done that largely along the journey and the young players you've seen have very much earned their opportunities through form in the VFL," Buckley said, as the Pies unveiled Holden as the naming sponsor of their headquarters at Melbourne's Olympic Park.
The run home: Can the Magpies still play finals?
"Whilst we're really keen on finding new talent and providing some freshness in the team, it hasn't been manufactured - every one of the young players who has come in has earned his spot.
"We feel there's real competition for spots there, young or old, so we'll pick the side we think is best placed to win this game of footy.
"There will be youth elements and elements of what the future looks like in that 22."
The Pies are 11th on the ladder and two-and-a-half games behind the eighth-placed Crows after being as high as fourth after round 11.
Having lost seven of their last eight games, they've all but fallen out of contention and below the club's expectation of finishing as finalists.
"Our aim going into the season was to play in finals and win a final, and unless things go all our way in the last three weeks, we're going to fall short of that," Buckley said.
"The board, the coaches and the players and anyone in the football department will have felt like we've fallen short of where we set ourselves for this year.
"There's no hiding from that and we're disappointed in the position we find ourselves in because given the development and growth we know that is within this group, we haven't been able to achieve what we wanted to in the short-term."
The Pies need to find a replacement for Nathan Brown for Saturday's clash with Richmond at the MCG, with the defender to miss through suspension.
That inclusion won't be Tyson Goldsack, who may not appear at any level this weekend because of an on-going battle with knee tendinitis that could rule him out for the year.
"It's held him back for the second half of the year, to be honest," Buckley said.
"We've rested him at times but we're not even sure he'll be fit to play VFL footy let alone AFL.
"Whether we decide on pushing him through this last part of the year will depend on how he trains tomorrow."
