The Collingwood midfield needs to play with more dare, arrogance and bravery, writes David King

AS soon as Collingwood midfielder Adam Treloar stops accepting tackle pressure and decides to evade or break tackles, he will be unstoppable, writes David King.

Taylor Adams in action for Collingwood. Picture: Michael Klein

ADAM Treloar, Scott Pendlebury, Steele Sidebottom and Taylor Adams must start taking forward territory rather than accepting wide, lateral targets that ultimately commit Collingwood to slow and ineffectual ball use.

The Collingwood midfield simply needs to play with more dare, arrogance and bravery.

A bravery that’s different than running back with the flight or nose over the football type toughness.

They need to be braver with ball in hand and start to run and test the defensive mettle of their opposition. Have the courage to be ran down from behind, because the offensive upside if the Swans are unable to deny is considerable.

Start breaking tackles!

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The Pies need to see Scott Pendlebury stepping through gaps again and drawing a crowd of tacklers before sliding his handballs through holes to teammates in space, allowing damaging possession.

Scott Pendlebury is still in awesome form and his follow-me style leadership is obvious for all to see.

Only Patrick Dangerfield has won more contested possessions this season and while his form is certainly not in question, his quality in the recent past has been greater.

Pendlebury is the fire starter. He makes lesser talent more effective by doing the heavy lifting at

stoppages and in congestion.

Dance Scotty, dance!

Scott Pendlebury in action against Richmond last week. Picture: AAP Images

Adam Treloar possesses breakaway speed that’s the envy of all ball-carrying AFL players but his default position under pressure sees him fall to his left side and basically dump kick the ball forward on his non-dominant left foot.

It’s turnover central which takes the gloss off a pretty well-rounded game. It encapsulates Nathan Buckley and Collingwood’s problems right now: they’re defeating themselves.

As soon as Adam stops accepting the opposition’s tackle pressure and decides to evade or simply break those tackles he will be unstoppable.

Treloar’s game has Brownlow Medal type capabilities but all gun midfielders embrace physical confrontation; they scoff and simply step through it.

The AFL’s very best are tackle breakers. Think Patrick Dangerfield, Chris Judd, Gary Ablett or even the Collingwood coaching panel’s Buckley and Robert Harvey. All impossible to tackle as they turn possession into points.

Adam Treloar needs to play with more football arrogance. Use his step and speed to force the Swans to chase and if Sydney fails defensively, you make them pay.

Last week Treloar had 35 disposals and kicked two goals, but kicked at 55 per cent efficiency. The ceiling on what Treloar could do in any given game remains untapped. It’s time for Arrogant Adam.

Dustin Martin broke the most tackles in the AFL last season and only Adam Saad has done it more so far in 2017. Yes it’s a small sample size but his damage when Saad gets possession has gone through the roof.

Adam Treloar needs to play with some arrogance, says David King. Picture: Getty Images

Jake Stringer broke the second most last year and it’s obvious to all the positive mindset that thrives on physical contact.

Steele Sidebottom’s possessions always provide scoreboard returns and his clever, often deft kicking around the 50 meter arc is a highlight.

Steele leads the way with score involvements at Collingwood with one in every three possessions becoming a score. Last week’s ration of eight kicks and 13 handballs need to be reversed. Steele must be a kicking commodity.

Taylor Adams and Jack Crisp are more like Sydney Swans-style midfielders under the death by a thousand cuts model. Accumulation versus impact is a debate Buckley must wrestle regarding the use of these two.

Why hasn’t Alex Fasolo or Will Hoskin-Elliot been in at centre bounce clearances? Get the damaging players in and around the action.

Only Port Adelaide has won more contested football than Collingwood — they average +16 over the past fortnight — and their stoppage returns are also tremendous. They’re tough and this is getting overlooked throughout their heavily reviewed start to 2017.

Collingwood’s biggest issue is that they have no counter-attack game at all from the defensive half of the field.

Their inability to turn opposition turnovers into a scoreboard return is the missing link in Buckley’s model.

It’s a defensive six that appears almost like an afterthought when putting this list rebuild on it’s path five or six seasons ago and this is the singular reason the Heath Shaw decision is constantly

revisited.

Nathan’s back six desperately needs some ball distributors and it’s clearly time for Lynden Dunn to get his opportunity.

Dunn is an organiser in the defensive end but more importantly he’s a kicker who is prepared to bite off corridor targets. Dunn will help Collingwood score.

Steele Sidebottom is always dangerous for the Pies. Picture: Getty Images

Yes he will lose some one-on-ones down back but Buckley cannot be consumed by the negative — the ball movement solution must be the priority.

Break tackles, use the corridor more and inject speed into the game particularly immediately after they force the opposition into turnover.

It sounds simple but doing it under pressure is a whole different story.

The Magpies will defeat the Swans Friday night. Largely because there’s no other option. It’s a win that will straighten up their season and diffuse the pressure on Nathan Buckley.