Concerning image rocks Collingwood as fitness concerns loom overhead

Collingwood were tipped to be a finals contender in 2025, but concerning scenes took place during their season opener on Sunday.

It may only be one game, but serious concerns for Collingwood emerged during the club’s loss to the GWS Giants on Sunday.

On a 27C day at ENGIE Stadium in Sydney, the Pies were blown off the park as the Giants flexed their running prowess.

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The Giants doubled their rivals on the scoreboard, claiming the four points with a 15.14 (104) to 6.16 (52) win.

But as troubling as the scores looked, things were far worse throughout the contest for the 2023 premiership winners.

The sour start to a year, where many tipped them to bounce back and make finals, was only amplified by several stars struggling to run out the contest.

Perennial Brownlow Medal contender Nick Daicos fell to the turf and struggled as cramp took control of his legs.

The struggles continued to affect him throughout the second half with the Pies star unable to make it to contests.

Nick Daicos went down in the third quarter.

Nick was seen grimacing constantly throughout the second half as the Pies attempted to stick with the Giants.

“They spent about six minutes with him on the bench, that didn’t help. And now they’ve had this six minutes at three quarter time,” Brad Johnson said on Fox Footy’s coverage.

With the game still in the balance, the Pies began the fourth quarter with both Nick and Josh Daicos laying on the ground in front of the bench in another concerning image.

Both players were receiving treatment from the physios with the demand for pickle juice becoming a must for the Pies players.

“We’ve been talking about the pickle juice a fair bit,” Johnson said.

“It alleviates cramp instantly, but it’s not working for Nick Daicos at the moment.”

The Daicos brothers receiving treatment to start the fourth quarter. Credit: Fox Footy.

While cramp striking players down is nothing new, the fact Collingwood players were dealing with it long before the final quarter left Channel 7’s Kane Cornes questioning the club’s preparation.

“It is a risk to overreact to one game, I understand that, but the warning signs have been there with the way that they’ve gone about building their list. They are old,” he said on Channel 7’s Kane’s Call.

For context, Collingwood’s list has an average of 28 years and three months.

“The facts are they’re one of the oldest teams to ever play, since that has been measured, and they looked old. Giants ran all over the top of them.

“Now Collingwood kicked inaccurately, I get that, they had a number of entries particularly in the third quarter where they couldn’t score and the Giants defended so soundly. But when the game opened up Collingwood looked old.

“To see Nick Daicos cramping up with 15 minutes to go in the third term — not the last term, the third term — is extraordinary.

“I’ve never seen anything like it for a player as usually fit as him and one of the hardest runners in the game. They would really seriously have to look into their preparation not just for Nick but the entire team.”

Nick was barely able to move freely. (Photo by Dylan Burns/AFL Photos via Getty Images)

Fox Footy’s David King further highlighted the thoughts of Cornes by exposing the Pies and their lack of defensive running, mainly from their star midfielders.

“Have a look at the Collingwood midfielders and lack of speed and intent. The poor attitude to put the clamps on the Giants once they broke from stoppage. Alarm bells for me … where are they?” King said on The First Crack.

“I felt sorry for the Collingwood back six at times, that’s just way too easy.

“Maybe we start to see the first signs of the lack of intent and lack of attitude to defend. Real concern for me.

“Sometimes players that have had success don’t want to pay the ultimate price again.

“It’s very early, no need for grand statements. But if we see this again in the next couple of weeks, we’ll say they need to make wholesale changes to this starting seven midfielders.”

Collingwood will look to bounce back on Saturday night when they take on Port Adelaide at the MCG from 7:35pm (AEDT).

Originally published as Concerning image rocks Collingwood as fitness concerns loom overhead