SOLVING the Dustin Martin riddle will not be a one-man job, Collingwood coach Nathan Buckley says.
Richmond's gun midfielder-forward is fresh from a 33-disposal, four-goal effort against Carlton and looms as the Pies' major stumbling block to a first win for the season on Thursday night.
Buckley hinted at a multi-faceted approach to stopping Martin, as well as help across the field, while conceding a complete blanket job was unlikely.
"You've got to put a fair bit of time in, (but) the modern philosophy is you don't put too much focus on one, because sides can kill with a thousand cuts in many different ways," Buckley said.
"So we're not ignoring (Trent) Cotchin, we're not ignoring (Dion) Prestia and (Josh) Caddy (or) the fact that their small forwards have got speed and put a lot of pressure on.
"We saw Dusty in the flesh (at Moe in the JLT Community Series) and watched him in round one and you can't help but be impressed with the shape he's in.
"We've got multiple options, but not all of them are going to work, either, because he's a good player and good players find a way to play well (and) he's almost impossible to tackle."
Collingwood will be without small forward Jamie Elliott (left ankle) for at least another week, with Buckley ruling out the 104-gamer.
But James Aish, a late withdrawal in round one with a virus that became tonsillitis, and Tim Broomhead are in contention to return for Travis Varcoe, who will miss through suspension.
Elliott trained mostly away from the main group on Tuesday, along with recruit Daniel Wells (calf), completing run-throughs and some light leading and marking work with the midfield group.
Levi Greenwood also made a surprise appearance on the track, just eight days after undergoing hip surgery.
Elliott may yet have to return through the VFL, given he has barely played in the past 18 months.
"He'll train again on Thursday and he'll be looking to put his hand up for Sydney (next week)," Buckley said.
"The fact is he's lightly raced this year in regards to footy and he's missed a lot of footy over the last 18 months, but what he brings to the table is enticing.
"So if he can put two or three good footy sessions together, we may consider him for Sydney, but he'd have to have everything go well for us."
Buckley was generally pleased with his side's first-up effort, a 14-point loss to the Western Bulldogs, but said his players should have capitalised more on their statistical dominance.
"The review would suggest that there was a game we could have won," he said.
"We did a lot right, but clearly there were some areas we would have liked to have been better in. We didn't take advantage of our inside 50s, clearly.
"It was a really strong (midfield) performance and I thought both Mason (Cox) and Brodie (Grundy) in the ruck had huge influence to give our mid first supply."
