Collingwood X-factor Jordan De Goey is a “frustrated midfielder”, and those frustrations will continue long into his AFL career if he keeps working his magic up front.
De Goey booted five goals on Thursday night to lift the Magpies to a 22-point win over Geelong at Perth’s Optus Stadium.
The match-winning haul highlighted De Goey’s value up front, but the 24-year-old is also desperate to crack a permanent spot on the midfield.
Collingwood coach Nathan Buckley said he will take a horses for courses approach with De Goey.
“Jordy is probably a frustrated midfielder and he would like to be there ultimately,” Buckley said.
“And we see him in that capacity in the medium term.
“But right now, when he’s kicking five goals in a shortened game and in a low-scoring year, we’ll take that.
“We were looking for a little bit of legs in the midfield late in the game and we went to Jack Crisp because Jordy was so dangerous forward of the ball.”
De Goey’s heroics came less than two weeks after being charged with indecent assault over an alleged incident from 2015.
Buckley said De Goey was enjoying being in Collingwood’s quarantine bubble in Perth.
“He enjoyed being around his teammates,” Buckley said.
“We feel like we create a safe environment for our people, whether they’re players, coaches or staff.
“So I think Jordy has enjoyed having that support around him and he was happy to play his part no doubt.”
The Magpies’ fourth win of the season saw them rocket into second spot.
Buckley opted against playing 211cm forward Mason Cox in the wet conditions against Geelong, but said the decision could have gone either way.
“We just thought that the question mark was a bit of straightening us up and being able to go long down the line to Mason in front of the ball versus just having a little bit more ground ball hunt,” Buckley said.
Collingwood now have a 10-day break before taking on West Coast at Optus Stadium.