Essendon great Matthew Lloyd thinks Collingwood has gone backwards since caretaker coach Robert Harvey replaced Nathan Buckley.
The Magpies kicked one goal to half-time and three goals to three-quarter time before eventually losing to St Kilda by nine points on Sunday.
Harvey has lost both games in charge since he was appointed as interim Collingwood coach for the remainder of the season.
Lloyd has implored Harvey to remove “the handbrake” and play a bolder brand of football with seven games left in the year.
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“There’s usually a spike in performance when a caretaker coach comes in. There’s a little bit of excitement,” he told AFL Media’s Access All Areas.
“But they’ve gone backwards in my opinion.
“They beat Melbourne with Nathan Buckley in his last game – I haven’t seen positional moves, I haven’t seen any boldness, I wanted to see them take the game on a little bit more.
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“Their intensity yesterday was really, really poor. Some of their efforts weren’t great. I thought of a player like Steele Sidebottom and wondering where his head is at.
“I haven’t seen too much different from Robert Harvey.
“If I was Mark Anderson (CEO) and the board I’d go to Robert Harvey and say, ‘We want to see these kids play. Let them go. Pull the handbrake off’.
“That’s the frustrating part - why take the game on in the last quarter when the game’s over? I’m seeing very similar to what I saw with Nathan Buckley.
“I thought they were junk time goals when the game was over.”
Harvey will look to get his first win as Collingwood caretaker coach against Richmond this weekend.