Collingwood recruited a star. After another worrying loss, it’s time to let him shine

3 months ago 22

Dan Houston was to be the difference. When Collingwood unashamedly went all in for a flag this year and retained more veterans than the RSL, they chased Houston to help deliver a second premiership in three years.

Collingwood are yet to get the best out of their prime off-season recruit Dan Houston.

They traded away yet more early draft picks to get him and plunged on the idea of having the most punishing defence in football, pairing Houston’s golden right boot with Josh Daicos’ artistry.

It hasn’t worked. Yet. Like his team, which has endured a faltering month, Houston might yet find a way to gel because he is too good a player not to. But to date neither he nor Collingwood have got the return they expected.

He was not the reason they lost on Saturday night, here were many, but he was one of them. Outside of his first game in black and white, he has also not been the reason they have won games during their ride at the top of the ladder.

Josh Daicos has been Collingwood’s main distributor off half-back.

The backline, which has been unsettled and disorganised in Jeremy Howe’s absence and unbalanced with Billy Frampton missing, has not reaped the benefits expected of the Daicos-Houston pairing.

Daicos has had an excellent season, but his success does come at a cost to the output of other players in Collingwood’s backline who are asked to cover his man and theirs. Against Fremantle in round 19 it wasn’t just Patrick Voss kicking goals, it was Sam Switkowski taking five marks in the forward line while he was ignored by the hyper-attacking Magpie backs.

With Daicos used as the first-choice distributor, Houston has seen little of the ball. Not coincidentally, one of his best performances came against Gold Coast when Daicos-the-elder moved onto the ball.

Houston has sounded out Lachie Schultz, who last year had a tough first season adjusting his game to Collingwood’s and trying to figure out where he fits in. It has, though, not been a problem for Harry Perryman, who has a different backline role to Houston, and has been very good this year.

Against Brisbane on Saturday night, Houston had only 11 touches and gave away two critical free kicks, both for high tackles that led to goals. Both were those maddening free kicks when the player with the ball searches for high contact and is rewarded when it comes. Frees are nearly always paid in this scenario because the umpire is left to make a forensic decision in a split second about who was most responsible for the tackle slipping high.

Houston is averaging just 16 touches a game. At Port, he was getting about 10 more touches than that each match. He has averaged half the number of inside 50s a game and fewer marks.

It’s as if Collingwood brought a star in for a role they aren’t using him in. He looks confused and appears to be second-guessing himself. He is better than this, and Collingwood need to find a way to unlock his game because what they are doing now isn’t working.

If he is to be a difference-maker, the Magpies need to start using him better. That might require moving Josh Daicos up to a wing and shifting Jack Crisp, who has had a quieter month, back to half-back.

The losses, meanwhile, mount for Collingwood – three in their past four matches, with Hawthorn to come this week off a five-day break, followed by Adelaide in Adelaide. They have now lost top spot and their grip on a place in the top four looks shaky.

It is a recoverable situation, but there are problems. There is a suggestion the players have been through a heavier pre-finals training block, which would explain some sluggishness. But does it explain being beaten so badly in clearances? Being beaten around the ball? Does it explain broken tackles and a lack of pressure? Does it speak to a defence that is easily separated and exploited?

Jeremy Howe and Beau McCreery are, for differing reasons, important outs for Collingwood. Howe has been missed in each of their defeats (he was subbed out in one), and is critical to organising the defence. He is smart, reads the ball coming in and manages the other defenders while still taking intercept marks or help spoil contests.

Charlie Dean has looked out of his depth and Darcy Moore was poor and beaten by a second-year player. He gave up another bag of goals.

McCreery’s pressure and aggression around contests is elite and was missed against Brisbane, whose settled midfield was so much cleaner.

Ned Long has come back to earth after a very good period. Collingwood was exposed by their lesser players. Long, Charlie Dean, Oleg Markov and Will Hoskin-Elliott all failed to have an impact, while the older players Scott Pendlebury and Steele Sidebottom were quiet.

But, as with most clubs, it is the bigger-name players who will make the biggest difference. Bobby Hill’s return and Jordy De Goey getting three quarters of game time after missing most of the year were the most significant and encouraging developments on Saturday for a midfield that has been too reliant on Nick Daicos.

Finding the key to unlocking Houston’s impact would also help revive their flag prospects.

Cats purr

Geelong quietly monstered yet another poor team. The Cats didn’t choose their draw – the teams they play twice and their schedule of home games – at the start of the year. But if they did, this is the fixture they’d have chosen.

My colleague Jake Niall has been beating the drum of the inequitable draft and, in particular, the generous fixture bestowed on the Cats. And he’s done so for good reason: a team that finished fourth last year was drawn to play Richmond, St Kilda, Essendon and Port twice this year. No one at the start of the year would figure three of those for finals, while Port was plainly in transition and most likely sliding. Even Port knew that; they organised a coaching succession plan before the season even started.

Jeremy Cameron kicked six goals for Geelong in the rout of Port Adelaide.

The top eight teams the Cats did get twice – Brisbane and GWS – beat them in all four encounters. Yet, Brisbane could still finish below the Cats on the ladder.

A romp like Sunday’s over Port was not just training run, it bloated the percentage.

The Cats have Essendon, Sydney and Richmond to come, which gives them the chance to rest players without actually leaving them out of the team.

Hawks’ bad day

Hawthorn’s biggest concern now is not what happens to their finals chances without Will Day. That is almost inconsequential to the bigger picture of what now happens to Day.

Hawthorn’s Will Day is tackled by Sam Berry during their game at Adelaide Oval.

A third navicular injury – his second this year – is alarming. He missed the first five games last year with a foot injury, 16 games this year because of his navicular, and now has done it again after just two games back. Hawthorn’s concern now will be getting him over the foot problems, no mater how long it takes.

Incidentally, and this is no comment on Hawthorn or Day, but why was the game stopped for Day having cramp (it was not his foot that was the problem at the time)? Ridiculous over-correction.

Culley thrives

A small mercy for the Demons after a tough week. Maybe it was because he was playing his old side that Jai Culley looked comfortable, but it was the sort of performance that had you wonder where this has been for the tall, rangy former Eagle.

Playing a sort of Ollie Dempsey role, he pushed forward hard from a wing, kicked a couple of goals and was a surprising target for the Demons. His mark for his second goal, off two steps arching his back and reaching high, bending into the players coming the other way was as elegant as it was effective. He was allowed to jump unchecked at the ball which is a luxury he will not often get, and he will play better opposition teams, but he provided a sweet bonus to the crisis-calming victory for the Demons.

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