Peter Moore questions Pies game plan and says Nathan Buckley needs to fix issues

COLLINGWOOD great Peter Moore says it’s up to the coach where his son Darcy plays his football. But he says being a forward at the Pies hasn’t been easy.

Darcy Moore at Collingwood training. Pic: Michael Klein

COLLINGWOOD great Peter Moore says his son Darcy’s likely shift to defence might benefit him given the difficulty of being a forward at the Pies.

Earlier this year David Cloke lashed Nathan Buckley’s game plan, saying son Travis had been a “scapegoat” following his trade to the Western Bulldogs, and now another famous father had his say on the Pies.

Moore wasn’t as critical of Buckley as Cloke Snr has been — saying he trusted the coach to make the call on what was best for the Pies — but did say Buckley needed to find answers.

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“One of the problems at Collingwood is the way they play. Their chosen game style is generally it’s a five-man forward line playing on seven defenders, so it’s very difficult for forwards to kick a lot of goals and to get a lot of opportunities,” Peter Moore told SEN.

“The other issue is their entries into the forward half were absolutely hopeless in the first half of last year. They’re working hard to improve that and try and get better delivery and also move the ball a bit quicker.

“When you add all that up, forward line is not the best spot you can be at Collingwood and Collingwood forwards don’t tend to kick a lot of goals.”

Darcy Moore is training as a defender. Pic: Michael Klein

Peter Moore won a Brownlow Medal at the Pies. Picture: Wayne Ludbey

Asked where he believed Darcy should play — the Pies have said the 21-year-old would likely move to the backline in 2018 — Moore backed Buckley on what was best for the team.

He said he believed his son’s versatility would allow him to play in the ruck or even on a wing in addition to key forward or defensive posts.

“He’s clearly a good forward, a natural forward,” Moore said of his son.

“The problem at Collingwood is he can’t get the ball enough in the forward line, you know they have trouble getting the ball to him.

“I think the thinking is to try to get him in the play more because he’s pretty effective when he’s got the ball.

“The feeling is if they can sort a forward line out that works then they’d like to play him a bit more behind the ball. But I think he’ll play both forward and back. I think they can’t make an arbitrary call on it.

Will Ben Reid play forward with talk Darcy Moore moving to defence? Picture: Wayne Ludbey

“I’d like to see him play forward, and then when they need him to, he could go back ... it’s probably a case of where he can serve the team best, and the coach has probably got to make that call.”

Buckley was handed a two-year contract extension after Collingwood missed the finals for a fourth straight year. Moore Snr said he liked the Pies’ list and the coach now needed to push the club up the table.

“Bucks has been very well supported. Eddie’s very loyal to him and has really given him everything that he could possibly want — he’s got the coaches he wants, the players he wants — it is set up the way he wants it,” he said.

“Now the challenge for him is: can he convert and make that team competitive?

“A lot of people say its game plan issues and the way they go about it. I don’t know what it is, but whatever it is, doesn’t work, so he has to figure it out, and pretty quickly I would have thought.”

Originally published as Peter Moore questions Pies game plan and says Nathan Buckley needs to fix issues