COLLINGWOOD midfielder Adam Treloar has given a brutal self-appraisal of his performance against Essendon on Saturday, saying he played "absolutely horrendously".
And the 24-year-old has launched an impassioned defence of under-fire Magpies coach Nathan Buckley.
After making an encouraging start against the Bombers and kicking the first two goals, the Magpies' defensive-half turnovers proved costly and they conceded the next seven successive goals.
The 37-point loss marked Collingwood's fourth straight defeat, adding more pressure on Buckley at the helm.
Treloar, who gathered 21 disposals against the Bombers at 67 per cent efficiency, labelled his game as "non-existent", but said he was not playing under duress despite not training fully in recent weeks.
"There was no reason why I shouldn't have been playing yesterday," Treloar told Fox Footy on Sunday.
"I was fine when I was out there, I just played absolutely horrendously. It had nothing to do with my body.
"I'm as much as a culprit as any of us. It's not that we drop our heads, it's just there's a lot of times where (we make) a silly decision, skill execution won't go our way, we'll turn the ball over and then they go on and score – and it's just deflating."
After the game, Buckley conceded his players had reached "a tipping point" and "lost a bit of hope" as a result.
Treloar did not concur with his coach's post-match comments.
"I wouldn't agree with that," Treloar said.
"Based off yesterday's performance you'd almost say that because we were poor, but entirely, I don't think (we have lost hope) at all."
Now in his sixth season in charge at Collingwood, Buckley is out of contract at the end of the year.
Treloar pledged his support for Buckley and said the players had again let him down.
"I absolutely adore him and I love him as my coach," he said.
"I've got an amazing relationship with him. I am hoping he's here for a long time with me and the team.
"I suppose at the end of the season we'll find all that out.
"We come out there and the performance isn't there. It has nothing to do with the guys in the coaches' box, it has nothing to do with Bucks – he's not the one out there playing, we're the ones playing."
Magpies vice-captain Taylor Adams said the widespread speculation over Buckley's future had filtered through to the playing group.
"In terms of week to week you don't try to focus on it too much, but I'd definitely be lying if I said that it didn't have an impact," Adams told Channel Nine on Sunday.
"It's never an enjoyable position to be in when your coach is copping it like Bucks has this year, and obviously after results over the last month certainly haven't helped his cause.
"It is hard to escape, living in Melbourne, such a footy-orientated town. You've just got to do your best, as a player, you can't really let your job consume your whole life. We spend a lot of time at the footy club, (there's) a lot of media attention, it's hard to ignore all the papers and what's written."
