Collingwood’s football department faces a make-or-break 2017 season

COLLINGWOOD’S football department knows it will face the axe if the team is not competitive next season, says football manager Neil Balme.

Nathan Buckley. Picture: Getty Images

COLLINGWOOD’S football department knows it will face the axe if the team is not competitive next season.

Magpies football manager Neil Balme is confident has the talent to take it into the 2017 finals after three disappointing years.

But he knows if it doesn’t happen, it could spell the end for key officials — including coach Nathan Buckley.

“We and the footy department believe we have enough players and the players are bought-in enough,” Balme said.

“If we keep developing them the way we have been (there is enough) for us to be a competitive team next year.

“And I think we all accept if we are not, well, probably someone else will be doing it.”

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Balme said there would be “enormous pressure” on Buckley — who will be out of contract at the end of next season — and his assistants next year, and admitted concerns about the capacity to perform under such conditions.

“There is enormous pressure on Bucks and the rest of us for next year,” Balme said on SEN. “We get that and we understand that.

“It’s not necessarily the best environment to perform in, that kind of pressure, but that’s the pressure that there is.

“We need to deliver on it.”

The Pies are under pressure to perform in 2017. Picture: Getty Images

Forward Travis Cloke was dropped for last night’s clash with the Western Bulldogs, further fuelling speculation he would seek a trade.

AFL hall of fame member Tim Watson said Richmond would be a perfect fit for the premiership star, and that the Tigers would be derelict in their duty if they did not consider having Cloke and dual Coleman Medallist Jack Riewoldt in the same forward line.

“It is a glaring hole in Richmond’s game to have somebody that Jack Riewoldt can play with consistently,” Watson said on SEN.

“Travis has to prove that he is a consistent player again, but you would have to look at him if you were Richmond.”

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Watson said Cloke would have to be “reprogrammed” to play at senior level again, and that his issues were mental.

Balme was adamant Collingwood would not pursue a trade for the dual All Australian, but would consider its options if another club made an approach.

“That will be totally determined by what Travis wants to do … and then it has to suit us and what we want to do,” he said.

“Who knows what’s going to happen and we are all open to whatever is going to happen, but I guarantee you he has a contract and we are more than happy to have him because that is what we entered into four years ago.

“Can he get back the form that we need to see? How far off is he? How far off does he think he is compared to what we do?

“He has played OK, but not OK enough and not quite doing what we need. There is pressure on us to perform as a team.

“We want him to play as well as he can. But if he can’t quite do it, what do we do? Is it chicken or egg? Wait for him or make a decision on it?

“It’s not personal but it’s pretty tough. It’s tough on him but it’s tough to make the decisions.”

Originally published as Collingwood’s football department faces a make-or-break 2017 season