Daisy in doubt for Round 1

Collingwood coach Nathan Buckley reveals star midfielder Dale Thomas is no certainty to be fit for the start of the season following ankle surgery.

Collingwood stars Dale Thomas, Heath Shaw, Dane Swan and Ben Johnson talk shop at training yesterday. Picture: George Salpigtidis Source: Herald Sun

Injured Collingwood star Dale Thomas remains in doubt for Round 1. Picture: George Salpigtidis Source: Herald Sun

COLLINGWOOD coach Nathan Buckley has cast doubt over Dale Thomas's availability for Round 1.

The midfielder has yet to resume full training as he recovers from ankle surgery.

The news comes as Buckley accused his onballers of being downhill skiers at times last year.

"He is still a couple of months away," he said of Thomas.

"He will need to get some solid training in and get up to speed before he is ready to play some games of footy, whether that is late in the NAB (Cup) or early in the home-and-away (season) will depend on the speed of his recovery.

"He has had a modified pre-season and has got a lot of fitness work in, but not on legs. So we will have to judge that as we go."

As the Magpies gear up for Round 1 against North Melbourne on March 31, Buckley said yesterday players who could not instil defensive pressure all over the ground would not be selected.

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Brownlow medallist Dane Swan has been criticised for his one-way running, but Buckley felt he was not alone.

"We were too offensive out of stoppages and with our transitional running at times," he said.

"And not clean enough to support that offence. If we were cleaner and more efficient inside 50, you can run forward all you like. The ball is never going to come back. But when you come up against other sides, the ball comes back at you more often and you need to be able to handle that.

"I believe in team defence. You need 22 players to be defending. We improved our transitional defence as the year went on and we were better for it. We have some real depth now in our squad.

"If you are not going to tip into the defensive aspects, you are going to struggle to get a game of footy for us."

Buckley said the club's review of 2012 also identified the need for a tagger and that the Pies kicked to Travis Cloke to often.

He said the club had scored on only 40 per cent of its inside-50s, despite going to Cloke 80 per cent of the time.

"We need to be more aggressive with our ball movement," he said.

The off-contract Thomas said last week he was in no rush to start negotiating a new deal until he recovered.

But he said he was wary of letting contract talks turn into the "circus" that engulfed Cloke last year.

Buckley said: "We have got about 40 per cent of our list coming out of contract this year and we will deal with those guys, appropriately, at the right times."

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