Collingwood says Dane Swan will have ‘big say’ in future after knee surgery

NATHAN Buckley says star forward Jamie Elliott is weeks away from a return to the field and reveals the latest discussions on Dane Swan’s future.

Melbourne football training

NATHAN Buckley is demanding sharp improvement from Collingwood ahead of Saturday’s clash with St Kilda, assessing the Magpies’ mediocre start to the season as “five or six out of 10.”

Urging the Pies to snare more contested ball after an 80-point loss to Sydney and a cliffhanger one-point win over Richmond, Buckley conceded there is plenty of scope for improvement.

“We’ve probably been five or six out of 10 in our first two weeks,” Buckley said.

“We want to see our minimums at a seven and our best performances at nines and tens.”

While injuries to Brownlow medallist Dane Swan and last season’s leading goal-kicker Jamie Elliott have dulled Collingwood’s potency, Buckley wants the Pies to be more effective in 50-50 contests.

“My eyes are telling me that we’re not winning as much contested ball as we’d like ... or as we’ve enjoyed in the past,” he said.

“Just because we’ve done it in the past doesn’t make it happen now.”

Collingwood is 14th after two rounds and Buckley is wary of a resurgent St Kilda.

“I rate their pressure skills and there’s a lot of dare in the way they play,” Buckley said.

“Obviously really emotional for them last week with Nick’s (Riewoldt) 300th and they came up against a really footy team.

Jamie Elliott and Brent Macaffer run laps at Collingwood training. Picture: Wayne Ludbey

“So they’ve had to travel away to Port Adelaide, performed really well there and then ran up against a really good Bulldogs team that are top of the ground and really confident and flying..

“I think they’re a dangerous side if they’re allowed to get the game on their terms, as most AFL teams are.

“We’ll have our hands full with their daring style and the pressure they’ll want to put on us so it’s gonna be a test.”

Buckley said the extent of Swan’s injury would be revealed during surgery today, but said the veteran would have a “big say” in how the rest of his career unfolds.

“He’ll have a big say in what that looks like, given what he’s provided to the club for a long period ... and the fact he’s his own man,” Buckley said.

Buckley also defended Scott Pendlebury, insisting the star midfielder was performing to internal expectation.

“Pendles’ cops a heavy knock, he dusts himself off and he gets on with business,” Buckley said.

“You’re rarely 100 per cent these days and ‘Pendles’ wasn’t 100 per cent on the weekend.

“But he’ll be better this weekend.”

Nathan Buckley with matchwinner Brodie Grundy after Collingwood’s one-point win against Richmond. Picture: Colleen Petch

With Travis Varcoe to miss another week because of a hamstring injury, Elliott’s immediate future remains unclear.

“We still think that he’s gonna need another week or two of running, probably two or three weeks of conditioning on top of that,” Buckley said.

“So we think, long-term, we’d have six to eight (weeks) but it could be four to 12.

“Conservatively, we won’t see him in the next month.

“I did ask him the other week — when it was at its worst, if you had to play a game in a week’s time, would you have been able?,” Buckley said.

“The answer was no — it was debilitating — so we can’t muck around with this.”