Justin Kositchke faces a nervous wait after being involved in an ugly incident as Collingwood edged St Kila at Etihad Stadium.
Collingwood coach Nathan Buckley wouldn't speculate on potential bans for St Kilda forward Justin Koschitzke. Picture: George Salpigtidis Source: Herald Sun
COLLINGWOOD coach Nathan Buckley last night refused to be drawn on St Kilda forward Justin Koschitzke's high contact on Magpie Jamie Elliott, saying he wanted to leave the incident in the hands of the match review panel.
Speaking after the Magpies' hard-fought 26-point win over the Saints at Etihad Stadium, Buckley said his forthright post-match comments on Lindsay Thomas' clash with Ben Reid in Round 1 had taught him to keep his opinions to himself.
"I saw it very quickly during the play in the second quarter," Buckley said of the incident in which it appeared Koschitzke's elbow made contact with Elliott.
"Last time I was in this room (the post-match press conference room at Etihad Stadium) I commented on a tribunal appearance that was made (into) a bigger story than it needed to be. So I will just let the powers that be deal with that."
Buckley said he had not heard about a tweet from injured Magpie Dayne Beams during the match in which he said: "Fairly weak that by Justin Koschitzke."
The incident left Elliott in the hands of trainers and he was taken from the field. He resumed in the second half.
Koschitzke, playing his 197th match and only his second for the season, faces a nervous wait until Monday's match review findings, having copped a one-match ban last year for striking.
Buckley admitted an over-correction on the team's defensive aspects - pinpointed as an area of concern after the Anzac Day fadeout to Essendon - had made his players a little more cautious and less adventurous against the Saints.
"We spent most of the week talking about our defensive intent and how we were going to go about that," he said.
"It is a natural reaction to take focus off other areas of the game where you need to do well.
"We probably just got too careful with our ball use in the second quarter and we opened that up a little bit and got the balance right in the second half."
Buckley made a number of changes coming into the match - bringing in two ruckmen (Darren Jolly and first-gamer Jarrod Witts for one (Ben Hudson) and making a number of positional switches during the contest.
The use of Dale Thomas across half-back saw him have a game-high 34 touches, with Buckley saying he could be used there on a case-by-case situation in the absence of Alan Toovey. The coach also chose to use a tagging role, with Brent Macaffer restricting the output of Nick Dal Santo.
"He (Thomas) still has a way to go - we have to understand 'Daisy' has come off a limited pre-season," he said.
"It was a different role for him tonight. I don't think it was hard to rack up possessions as a back-man at times, especially with the way we used the ball in the second quarter.
"He and 'Heater' (Heath Shaw) were playing kick to kick there in the back half. (But) he defended well and he attacked well when we needed him to."
Buckley said the Collingwood defence - with Toovey out for the season with a knee injury and with captain Nick Maxwell still out injured - would be switched around on occasions to find the right balance.
"Our defence is going to look very different for the rest of 2013, and definitely in the next couple of weeks," he said.
Travis Cloke, who kicked four goals – including three in the last term – jarred the same finger that he dislocated before the Richmond match, but Buckley said that he was fine.
Bucks zips lip on Kosi elbow
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Bucks zips lip on Kosi elbow
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