Collingwood are playing without confidence or effective system or structure. If the structure is wrong or been worked out within three games, then it is a coaching issue. If it is the right structure but played the wrong way, then players and coaches share blame. Collingwood players leave the field after their loss to St Kilda on Saturday. Credit:Getty Images Damningly, St Kilda cautioned each other after the win not to be overly excited by victory for the quality of the opposition was so poor. They spent the game waiting for Collingwood to come at them to harass and pressure them but at every turn Collingwood instead folded back and ushered them forward. In years past there have been explanations for form lapses but in years past the explanations only needed telling in the second half of the season. The first half went swimmingly before the Magpies drowned. Buckley has just been reappointed for next year and is in no danger of his employment being challenged but this start to the season has turned focus now to him as much as the highly paid players who are underperforming.

The statistical evidence reinforces what the eye has seen: the Magpies give the opposition too much space, their ball movement is stagnant and they do not mark the ball near their goal. The combination of factors has meant their ball movement is treacle slow with the Magpies playing on far less than any of their opponents. It is not helped by the fact their ball use is atrocious, with their total disposal efficiency ranked the second worst in the league compared to their opposition. Injuries and suspensions to Dane Swan, Travis Varcoe, Steele Sidebottom and Jamie Elliott have doubtless hurt, but Collingwood's absences have been no worse than other clubs. In the midfield Jack Crisp was a revelation last year but terrible this year, Taylor Adams out of form. Levi Greenwood has kicked balloons up in the air and hit the target by foot just 43 per cent of the time. Even recruit Adam Treloar, a good player in the first two games, is only kicking the ball at 46 percent. They have too few elite ball users behind the ball. Ben Sinclair has been given ample time but remains a poor kick who would be playing at few other teams. Brayden Maynard is young and a good kick but is lost playing a zone. Ben Reid's return last week has helped restore some class and Scott Pendlebury is still needed there … and everywhere else.

Meantime, they are allowing the opposition a ludicrous amount of time and space for uncontested possessions. This makes them easy to score against, as reflected in the fact the opposition score more than half the time they take the ball forward which ranks them among the league's worst. Buckley correctly asserted on Saturday his side was horrible at trapping the ball in the forward zone. This might be because of the haphazard and slow way they moved it forward and the fact his forwards seemed incapable of taking a mark inside 50. Darcy Moore is in his second year and looked to be sore. Travis Cloke was not as bad on Saturday as he has been, which is a long way from saying he was good. He continues to have no influence on games, which is inexcusable for a player in the top band of earners in the competition. He was rightly used as second ruck to protect Moore and to get him into the game. Putting that aside, Buckley's fundamental point was right, the players in the forward 50 were incapable of slowing players let alone sticking tackles and that meant the ball bounced down the field. But it was only one of the problems. They continue to have problems in the ruck. Jarrod Witts was poor then injured in round one and Brodie Grundy – despite booting the winning goal against Richmond – has had little influence around the ground. He has taken five marks in two games this year and none of them were contested. Last year he averaged one contested mark every two games and only 3.5 marks a game. While he is good at ground level, big men are there to be big men and he does not take enough marks.

At the bounce his tap work has been mid-table for the league but the players at his feet are not getting it and clearing it. He takes some responsibility for that. They take more. When Collingwood looked good in the pre-season they moved the ball with pace, purpose and direction. They looked drilled and sharp, but that has not been seen since football that matters has been played. That suggests that either, once the real football began and opposition teams seriously worried themselves with Collingwood, the system collapsed, or once the real football began, the players stopped playing the game they were trained to play. Either reason is unsatisfactory. After Saturday's game Buckley conceded that players alone were not at fault. "Parts of our method are falling over and our players are not able to execute it often enough at the moment and that is something we will need to look at as a coaching staff and as a playing group," he said.