Ferocious spray on ruckman was delivered as a rev-up, coach says
COLLINGWOOD coach Nathan Buckley says his heated confrontation with Jarrod Witts in Saturday's loss to Hawthorn was a calculated "prickle" designed to wake up his young ruckman.
Buckley grabbed a hand full of Witts' jumper on the sidelines and delivered a forceful message late in the third quarter after the Hawks went on a four-goal run that floored the Magpies.
The 21-year-old, who had nine possessions and 17 hit-outs to that point, responded and was one of the few Magpies to lift in the fourth quarter, finishing with two goals.
Buckley said his young ruckman had lacked presence in the first three quarters and he was not giving the Magpies everything he was capable of.
"It was designed as a prickle … it was designed to really challenge him and wake him up in some ways," the coach said post-match.
"I've got great belief in what he's going to be capable of achieving, [but] I don't think he shares that belief at the moment.
"We're getting about 85 per cent of what he's capable of right now, and there's gold in that last 15 per cent.
"If you're saying was there emotion involved, yes there was, it's an emotional game. But I was fairly calculated in my approach to 'Wittsy'."
Buckley said the Magpies wanted their big men to "play big and tall and tough and have blokes stand up taller around them", and his ruckman hadn't done that for the majority of the game.
Witts said he was disappointed with his game overall, but he had responded to the challenge from his coach.
"It's part of footy and you've just got to wear it, you can't think about it too much," Witts told AFL.com.au.
"You've got to get your head back in the game and move on, which is what I tried to do.
"He was trying to will me on to finish the game strongly and get a few centre bounce clearances.
"I was able to finish off with a couple of goals, but I was a little bit disappointed with my game as a whole."
Incident with Wittsy says more about his coach than the player. Still room for challenges to be laid in this game but too overt today.