Nathan Buckley couldn't find a lot to like about Collingwood's patchy performance in Friday night's loss to Geelong but the coach was pleased with Jamie Elliott's eye-catching return from injury-enforced exile.
In his first game since round 23 of the 2017 season, Elliott was the best forward on the ground in the first half with three goals in the Pies' 10.12 (72) to 9.11 (65) loss at the MCG.
Having not played a game for 571 days, mainly due to debilitating back and hamstring injuries, Elliott's inability to maintain his first-half pace is understandable.
Buckley certainly wasn't about to mark him down because of it.
"Jamie was a real positive for us, he looked sharp," Buckley said.
"He will just build from this. His road back to where he wants to be is still in progress.
"This was an important marquee opportunity for him to get back into the home-and-away (season) and to play at the level that he would like to.
"He was clean, he took his chances. He stood out, in particular in the first half, kicking three of our four goals."
After a quiet start, Dayne Beams was also a plus for the Pies.
In his first game since rejoining the club following a four-season stint with Brisbane, Beams kicked an important goal and finished with 23 possessions.
But there are key flaws in Collingwood's play that Buckley must quickly remedy.
"A consistent theme across our pre-season has been too many turnovers in our back half," the coach said.
"We're shooting ourselves in the foot. If we can't work the ball out of our back half as effectively as we'd like to, then we allow the opposition to build pressure.
"That inevitably puts you on the back foot ... it's an issue from our pre-season and we've carried it into round one."
Australian Associated Press
