A WEALTH of class in the midfield is proving extra beneficial to Collingwood, with the Pies comfortable leaving match-winner Jordan De Goey as a permanent forward.
The 23-year-old was brilliant against Richmond on Thursday night, booting five goals in his side's 44-point win.
After kicking 48 majors last year in his breakout campaign, De Goey shaped as a possible midfield option more often for the Pies this season.
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However, the off-season return of Dayne Beams has added to the Pies' already star-studded on-ball unit, including Scott Pendlebury, Steele Sidebottom, Adam Treloar, Tom Phillips, Jack Crisp and Taylor Adams when he returns from injury.
Coach Nathan Buckley said De Goey continues to grow on and off the field, and that the Pies are in no rush to move him into the midfield.
"We're seeing him in a forward role at the moment and everyone expects that he will become a midfielder at some point but he's just so powerful and a very ballistic player," he said.
"He wins the ball in the air and on the ground and he knows where the goals are. To have him at the pointy end at the front of the ball is actually suiting us really well at the moment.
"I'll leave it to other people to say how good he can be because he's good already, but he'll be as good as he wants to be really. It's a matter of how committed he stays to his footy. The sky's the limit."
WATCH Dominant De Goey kicks a handful
After dropping its first game of the season last week to Geelong, Collingwood bounced back with a comprehensive win over Richmond, leading at every change and booting 10 goals to four in the second half.
Buckley described the performance as a "good response".
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"We were all challenged after last week, the coaches and players alike, but the credit has to go to the players. They were dirty on the way that we went about last week, more than the result. The response was really strong from the top down," he said.
"[The players] put some heat on themselves. [It was] a very good performance tonight, a lot closer to what we'd like the game to look like and the scoreboard looked after itself. Last week was something we need to work to remedy as we want to be a more consistent side."
The challenges don't stop for the Pies, as they take on West Coast next Saturday night in the Grand Final rematch at the MCG.
The Magpies are resigned to having last year's last-gasp loss in the premiership decider be the talking point in the build-up to next week, but Buckley said the defeat wouldn't shape how they attacked the contest.
"We'll hear about it, and I believe the AFL has some vignettes that are going to come out again. But we heard all about the prelim for the last six days and that was of no significance to us and I don't know what significance it held for Richmond, probably none either, because you can't go back," he said.
"We'll review this really strongly, and look at West Coast over the weekend and look forward to facing one of the better teams in the competition and seeing how we stack up. That's how I look at it."
