Collingwood seek on-field escape from off-field dramas

Every AFL club is playing out of their home state this week but Collingwood just want to escape their many dramas.

Gary Ablett practises goalkicking at Geelong training at the SCG on Wednesday Picture: Phil Hillyard

Hunkered down in a tourist hotel in Sydney’s Darling Harbour and training on sacred rugby league turf in the town’s inner-west, Collingwood should be a million miles from the troubles that dog the club. If only that were true.

In Melbourne the media is filled with criticisms. Former player Heritier Lumumba continues to complain about his treatment past and present, in the same trapped place president Eddie McGuire squirms on a pin, strong on demands about how other clubs should act but not so strident when it comes to his.

In Perth, where the Pies fly on Saturday morning after Friday night’s game in western Sydney against the Hawks, two players wait out another storm.

Steele Sidebottom has found his clothes and senses following an infamous drunken incident that saw him banned for four matches, but is yet to face his coach. Jordan de Goey serves quarantine in the same place after being dragged to a police station and charged with indecent assault over a 2015 incident.

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Turmoil is the order of the day for AFL clubs. Collingwood may be furthest from a comfort zone, but few are close to that place.

For the first time in the history of the game every single club will play out of their home state this round. Hawthorn, Gold Coast, Melbourne and Geelong are in Sydney while Carlton, St Kilda, Essendon, Richmond and North Melbourne are scattered along the Queensland coast.

The Queensland teams fly to NSW to play, the NSW ones do the reverse. It’s almost as if Lewis Carroll has sent the league through the looking glass.

Nathan Buckley during Collingwood training at Henson Park on Wednesday Picture: Brett Costello

The Pies trained at the home of the Newtown Jets, Henson Park, in inner-west Marrickville on Wednesday. Henson Park is a concave ground built on a brick pit that became a swimming hole before a spate of drownings saw it converted to a sporting field in the 1930s.

These days it’s populated by hipsters with ironic tattoos and greyhounds. The biggest day at the ground now is when the Jets share their exiled billing — like Fitzroy they were cut from the main competition — with a craft beer festival.

The Cats trained there on Tuesday but Gary Ablett Jr was practising goalkicking at the SCG on Wednesday ahead of that club’s match against the Lions on Thursday night.

Beaten by Essendon and the Giants in previous weeks, coach Nathan Buckley says the team is trying to focus on football matters, but nobody can completely ignore the uncertain times surrounding their home town and the competition.

“We’ve lost two games of footy in a row, if you break it down I think the criticism that we are facing for our on-field performances blends into a little of the off-field issues but we are able to separate that,” Buckley said.

“We understand that our performance last week wasn’t what we wanted. I think that’s been pretty consistent across the competition with a little bit of ups and downs, potentially with emotional and mental focus at times.

“Our boys reflected on the fact the lack of real clarity around (their futures was) affecting them for the first time this year, we’ve addressed that a little bit better.”

While the players are only allowed on to Sydney’s beaches for a brief recovery and short trips for coffee in pairs, the escape from Melbourne has at least forced them together in a year when socialising has been discouraged or difficult.

All reported a sense of concern for those they left behind when news came through of Melbourne’s increased restrictions on Tuesday, but they have a job to do.

“The early impressions for me is hub life is really positive; obviously there’s challenges around leaving your family, those with young children are facing challenges in regards to the fact the metropolitan area is going to be locked down,” he said.

“The reality here is that the players are spending more time together in this hub environment than they were beforehand. Whilst there are issues that are going on for some, for most we have probably been in a bubble

“We’ve been able to focus on the on-field challenges that presented themselves. Obviously the GWS game we lost by two points and should have won it, the Essendon game by 2½ goals and lowered our colours for the majority of the match.

“Our form is not tragic but we do have some work to do off the field and we’ve been able to focus on that.”

Melbourne, which plays the Gold Coast at Giants Stadium, drove the 50-odd kilometres from Manly to the training ground at Blacktown, which is not far from the city’s western fringes.