Collingwood forward Dan McStay's time to stand up and own his team's forward line has arrived.
The Magpies offensive woes in the last 12 months have been well-documented, passing 100 points just once - against current wooden spooners, Essendon - in their past 22 games.
With Jamie Elliott going down with a significant knee injury in Collingwood's match against West Coast, the club has lost 230 games and 364 goals from a line-up already heaping pressure on the backline to keep sides to low scores.
Will Hayes' seemingly significant shoulder injury does not help either, with the livewire having become a reliable contributor in 2026, while Bobby Hill has missed the past two VFL matches, setting back his AFL return.
Of course, four-time club leading goal kicker Brody Mihocek and Mason Cox - who was often an important structural piece, at the very least - leaving in the off-season are well known.
It puts the acid on McStay, who will be the centrepiece of Collingwood forward line at least in the short term and very likely for the remainder of the season.
McStay, 30, has never kicked more than 28 goals in a season, but is on track to break that this year, currently sitting at 19.7 through 11 matches, going goalless just once.
After joining Collingwood as a free agent on $600,000 a season for five years at the end of 2022, the 208-gamer has finally combined form and fitness.
He has been helped by elite goal kicking accuracy, but is marking the ball as well as he ever has and competing strongly in the air, sitting above average for contested marks and marks.
The experienced campaigner is also seizing his moments well - against West Coast, a last quarter goal from a ruck contest inside 50 proved critical to the result of the game.
The midfield will also need to be much more targeted with their ball movement, with Collingwood in the bottom six in the competition for marks inside 50. Given the cattle helping out McStay, that won't improve without better compliance to method.
The Magpies are also the worst in the competition at scoring from stoppage, a statistic where the best teams in the competition punish opponents.
The Pies look their most damaging when they lock the ball inside 50 and allow Lachie Schultz and co. to get to outwork opponents with their hunger and intent. The third quarter against West Coast was evidence of that and must be a focus for the 5-1-5 side.
The Magpies could welcome back Tim Membrey next week against Western Bulldogs, who got VFL minutes on Saturday and finished with five disposals, while Jack Buller has been in and out of the AFL team and kicked three goals.
Membrey is coming off a hamstring injury so has not featured since Anzac Day, kicking nine goals in his first seven games of the season.
Harvey Harrison will likely also be around the mark, having not featured at AFL level since before an ACL rupture in 2024.
He is more of a like-for-like replacement for small forwards Elliott and Hayes and kicked two goals from 24 disposals in the VFL, where he has been given midfield time. The creative half forward has 14 goals in 16 AFL games.
It is also worth noting Nick Daicos has spent more time forward in recent weeks, but is too central to the midfield mix to spend large chunks of the game in attack.
Collingwood has a decisive fortnight ahead against fellow top 10 aspirants Western Bulldogs and Melbourne, before a string of winnable games after the bye.
But the going looks a whole lot tougher without the experience of Elliott.
