Collingwood wants to regain reputation as one of AFL’s best starting sides amid form struggles

Collingwood has lost three of its past four games and will drop out of the top four if it loses to Richmond. But the Magpies have a plan to make sure that doesn’t happen, Jack Crisp reveals.

Collingwood is keen to start well against Richmond, Jack Crisp says. Picture: Mark Stewart

Collingwood is determined to regain its reputation as one of the AFL’s best starting sides beginning with the blockbuster against Richmond at the MCG.

The way in which Collingwood blitzed opposition teams early in matches was a feature of its game last September when it almost snatched the premiership.

It has dropped off the longer this season has gone on, and Magpies midfielder Jack Crisp said it was an area the players and coaches had addressed heading into Friday night’s showdown.

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“We had a brief chat after the game against GWS and we spoke about how in the first half of the year we were a good starting team and we restricted the opposition a fair bit,” Crisp told the Herald Sun.

“We’ve focused on that a little bit and also we’ve tried not to be too negative, but against the Giants for the first time this year we’ve conceded over 100 points.

“It’s an outlier game, but in saying that we still need to focus on the contested side of football.

“It’s where we got spanked in the first quarter against GWS.”

Collingwood is keen to start well against Richmond, Jack Crisp says. Picture: Mark Stewart

Crisp said there was a strong internal belief that the Magpies can rediscover their mojo in the latter stages of the home-and-away season.

“We’ve still got five games to go and there’s still a long time before the end of the season, so there’s plenty of opportunities to play our best football and work towards that,” he said.

“We’re looking for a bit of consistency so it all starts against the Tiges.”

The Tigers have won four games in a row and will leap into the top four at Collingwood’s expense if they can triumph.

“They’ve got a lot of momentum at the moment and they’re up and flying, so it’s going to be a good challenge for us,” Crisp said.

“I feel like we can rise to the challenge and we have our backs against the wall a little bit.

“They’re the momentum side and we’re not so much, so it’s going to be a good challenge.”