PETER Moore says his son Darcy will find life easier in Collingwood's backline and blamed the Magpies' game plan for starving their forwards of opportunities in 2017.

Moore, who played 249 games for Collingwood between 1974 and 1987, said he believed the way the Pies were instructed to move the ball made it hard for their goalkickers to make an impact.

He added that Darcy's expected move into defence for 2018 wouldn't be entirely foreign to him, given he played down back with the Oakleigh Chargers in the TAC Cup.

But, he also believed his son – who he described as a "natural forward" – could still offer something at both ends of the ground and in the ruck if the Pies improved their delivery to him.   

Darcy kicked 25 goals from 21 games in 2017. 

"I'd like to see him play forward, and then when they need him to, he could go back ... it's probably a case of where he can serve the team best, and the coach has probably got to make that call," Moore told SEN. 

"The feeling is if they can sort a forward line out that works then they'd like to play him a bit more behind the ball, but I think he'll play both forward and back. I think they can’t make an arbitrary call on it.

"It's an easy spot back there – you usually outnumber the opposition and you just cruise around marking the ball uncontested.

"It's a lot easier job back there because there is not a lot of one-on-one and if you can cover the ground you can play defence, but I like him in the ruck as well. 

"I think they should just stay flexible and play him wherever the team needs him most."

Moore, a two-time Brownlow medallist, expressed similar thoughts to that of David Cloke when he outlined where he thought their game plan was falling down.

Cloke earlier this year said it would "destroy" Darcy as he believed it did his son Travis. 

"One of the problems at Collingwood is the way they play. Their chosen game plan is a five-man forward line playing on seven defenders, so it's very difficult for forward to kick a lot of goals and get a lot of opportunities," Moore said. 

"The other issue is their entries into the forward half were absolutely hopeless in the first half of last year. 

"They are working hard to improve that and try and get better deliver and also move the ball a bit quicker.

"When you add all that up, forward line is not the best spot you can be at Collingwood and Collingwood forwards don't kick a lot of goals."

David Cloke was more scathing in his assessment, and said Travis – who retired last month after a stressful final year where he battled mental health issues – was forced out to the Western Bulldogs. 

He said Travis had been made a "scapegoat" by the Pies' coaches.

"He's got rid of all the players who wanted to run and carry the ball," David Cloke told News Corp in April.

"He got rid of Heath Shaw. He got rid of Harry O’Brien. Nick Maxwell retired and they never replaced them with players who ran and carried the ball.

"The thing is, Travis has [now] got a coach who's got a game style which wants to get the ball into the forward line.

"Whereas at Collingwood ... they're doing the same with Darcy Moore now. They will destroy him because they have a game style which revolves around their midfielders getting high possessions, but don't get the ball into their forward half."

Peter Moore also said the clock was now ticking when it came to Buckley, with the coach and club champion given a two-year contract extension at the end of last season.

"Bucks has been very well supported. Eddie's very loyal to him and has really given him everything that he could possibly want – he's got the coaches he wants, the players he wants – it is set up the way he wants it," he said. 

"Now the challenge for him is can he convert and make that team competitive? 

"A lot of people say it's game plan issues and the way they go about it. I don't know what it is, but whatever it is, it doesn't work, so he has to figure it out … and pretty quickly."