Matthew Lloyd believes Collingwood should delay contract talks with two of their gun forwards and instead pursue one key forward after their struggles ahead of the ball on Saturday night.
The Pies suffered back-to-back losses when going down to the Eagles at the MCG, despite winning the inside 50 count 61-42.
Hybrid ruckman Darcy Cameron and general forward Brody Mihocek are the club’s only troops in the tall forward department, however they have an assortment of smalls at their feet.
But with Jordan De Goey suspended and Jamie Elliott suffering a shoulder injury early in the last quarter, Collingwood simply couldn’t convert in the 13-point loss.
Lloyd believes the club has a history of failing to attract long-term key forwards to their club, highlighting that as a hole on their current list.
“I thought Collingwood, their issue was they won the inside 50s by a lot, but this forward line of Collingwood, Brody Mihocek has had to play above his height for a long time,” he told Sportsday.
“They’ve got Oliver Henry and Jack Ginnivan and all these guys, but still … the amount of forwards they’ve tried to land, we date back to Jonathon Brown, Nick Riewoldt, Matthew Pavlich, the list goes on, but they don’t have someone who can stand up tall for them.
“Darcy Moore and Jeremy Howe, they were in the backline, they were originally forwards, but they're settled and they’re great backmen in their own right.”
Having recently signed Darcy Moore to a long-term deal, the Pies now face a battle to secure the signatures of De Goey and Elliott, two of the hottest free agents on the market this year.
Despite De Goey’s off-field struggles the 26-year-old has dominated on-field in his three games in 2022, while Elliot has looked lively with four goals this year.
While those two are among Collingwood’s influential players, Lloyd would prefer to offer big money to attract a genuine key forward to the club to strengthen Craig McRae’s weakest line.
“Jamie Elliott is a free agent and he might be on around that $500,000 mark, De Goey might want $750,000-$800,000, I would be holding on both of them and scouring the country for a key forward,” Lloyd stated.
“In contract or out of contract.
“Because I think the midfield, you’ve got (both of) the Daicos’ and Patrick Lipinskis looking fine through there.
“Brodie Grundy is on a long-term deal in the ruck, Darcy Cameron ruck, the backline looks pretty good, but the forwards are still an issue for them.
“They were another team where they lost Adams and they lost De Goey, then Elliott goes down and they just fall out from a depth perspective.”
Elliott could miss up to three months as he undergoes surgery on his AC joint, while De Goey is free to return in Round 5 against Brisbane on Thursday night.
Listen to Sportsday with Matthew Lloyd below