COLLINGWOOD coach Nathan Buckley has put his forwards in the gun for setting the tone in the worst pressure performance his team has produced against St Kilda on Saturday.
The Magpies were out-tackled 53-62 at the MCG, with forwards Jarryd Blair and Alex Fasolo among six players who didn't lay a tackle in the 29-point loss.
Buckley, who forecast repercussions at the selection table ahead of next Sunday's clash against Melbourne, said his forwards' inability to keep the ball in the front half had put the rest of the team under pressure.
Five talking points: St Kilda v Collingwood
"Our high forwards were ineffective, they were unable to put any pressure on the St Kilda defenders and our mids and defenders were scrambling to be able to defend from that," Buckley said.
"We had five tackles from seven players who started in the forward rotations.
"You're asking a fair bit of your mids and your backs, but clearly our defensive structures have collapsed.
"That's as poor as we've pressured the opposition and we were pressured into errant disposal the other way."
Buckley said the Magpies only had two players who had played with the necessary energy and effort against the Saints and lamented that his players "weren't prepared to roll our sleeves up and do the work".
As well as Fasolo and Blair, tall forwards Travis Cloke (one tackle) and Darcy Moore (one) didn't produce defensively.
Despite a quiet debut that saw him finish with one goal and eight disposals, Jeremy Howe earned praise for his efforts to pressure the St Kilda defenders.
"The first thing he does in a Collingwood guernsey is sticks a tackle 15 seconds into the game and we get a goal from it," Buckley said of Howe.
"That's a relatively positive start, and of those five (tackles from Collingwood forwards) he had three, even though we think he'll grow into the role and we'll see more from him."
WATCH: Nathan Buckley's full post-match media conference
The Magpies now sit 1-2 and have won just three of 12 quarters this season, escaping with a win against Richmond last week "off the back of 40 minutes of footy".
"There's still enough evidence to suggest we can play the way we want to play, but we haven't got our heads in the sand," Buckley said.
"If there's evidence there to the contrary then we need to make shifts and we'll have a look at that over the next 24 to 36 hours.
"We're really disappointed with our early season form … we need to do better if we want to be competitive against anyone."
Captain Scott Pendlebury was used across half-aback for the second straight week, finishing with 27 possessions and two goals, but only two clearances after a short foray into the middle.
Buckley said the Magpies were "using him where we can best use him".
"We didn't win the game today so you could go to [strategy] in isolation and say it's not effective," the coach said.
"'Pendles' played his role OK from the back. Last week he played it pretty well, especially early.
"We discussed the leadership and organisation around stoppage and whether that was something that we were missing in that first couple of weeks with 'Pendles' not in there.
"But we put the heat on Taylor Adams and Adam Treloar to organise that and stoppage was OK for us."
