Collingwood should lower its expectations for 2014, writes Mark Robinson

FOOTBALL and expectations can be a killer combination, and poor old Collingwood are simply going backwards at the moment.

FOOTBALL and expectations can be a killer combination.

The bigger the expectation, the greater the criticism when it goes pear-shaped.

Scotty Watters spoke about St Kilda becoming a juggernaut and he was sacked less than 12 months later.

Other things were happening at the dysfunctional Saints, but that quote haunted Watters no matter his explanation.

At Collingwood the bar has been set high and, if we can make judgments after just one game, they are a little misguided too.

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Coach Nathan Buckley recently said his team would contend for the premiership this season. “Play our best, win every game that we play ... contend for the flag. That’s our expectations,” he said.

Just 30 minutes before the bounce on Friday night, Magpies chief executive Gary Pert said: “I would suggest not only playing in finals for the next three years, but I would expect us to be top-four and winning a premiership during that time.”

The Magpies were trounced by Fremantle and the reaction from Magpies fans has been extraordinary.

The criticism of Buckley has been unreasonable.

Pies fans bleed black and white and some still bleed for Mick Malthouse.

News_Rich_Media: Collingwood head coach Nathan Buckley reflects post match on his side's round one shocker against Fremantle

It’s time they got over it. Malthouse is at Carlton. Buckley is coach. The 2010 premiership was a lifetime ago in the way football is played and the way with which teams have improved and gone backwards.

We’ll never know whether Malthouse would have had Collingwood in better shape than Buckley.

President Eddie McGuire backed in his decision with a contract extension for Buckley which was announced two weeks ago.

The point is, Collingwood will not contend this year and Buckley’s pre-season prediction says more about his glass half-full confidence than the practicalities of his list.

News_Image_File: Nick Maxwell and the Pies trudge off.

The Pies are slow, small, young, can butcher the ball and the midfield doesn’t work hard enough defensively. Last year, Scott Pendlebury called them cheats and Friday night wouldn’t have improved his thinking or changed his view.

Dayne Beams and Dane Swans are elite players but wouldn’t know who their opponents are most of the time.

Luke Ball is a warrior, but he’s slow. Nick Maxwell’s the same and the sand is falling through his hour glass.

The size of Ben Kennedy (175cm), Taylor Adams (181cm), Jarryd Blair (174cm), Marty Clarke (181cm), Sam Dwyer (180cm), Jamie Elliott (178cm), Alex Fasolo (181cm), Kyle Martin (180cm), Steele Sidebottom (180cm) and Josh Thomas (178cm) is also a concern.

Perhaps it’s not about the size of the dog in the fight, but the size of the fight in the dog.

Clarke’s career is at the crossroads, Elliott played well in a great team and needs to do the same in an average one, and the footy world is looking at Sidebottom. Star in the making or a pretty handy mid/forward?

The defensive group is young, the rucks are younger, and if Buckley wants to contend he has to finish top four. The Pies are going backwards before they go forwards.