Pies not crushed by loss pressure

COLLINGWOOD coach Nathan Buckley insists his club is immune to the doomsayers despite a depressingly familiar season-opening loss, injuries to key players and a daunting Round 2 assignment against a rampaging GWS.

The football world is again circling the Pies, who will also be without suspended big man Mason Cox against a Giants side fresh from an 82-point belting of the Western Bulldogs. Playmaking Pies Alex Fasolo, Daniel Wells and Jamie Elliott will all miss again.

“When you’ve got expectations coming into the season and you lower those expectations, you’ve got to carry that as players and coaches. But we’re made of sterner stuff,” Buckley said.

“I did say that we’d let our footy do the talking and we still plan to do that. At the moment it’s not doing a whole lot of talking, but we’re looking forward to the challenge on Saturday.”

Buckley will spend the next two days contemplating exactly how to recalibrate his forward line in the wake of Cox’s onematch ban, adding that Darcy Moore would again start in defence.