The area Collingwood must improve to beat West Coast

Collingwood captain Scott Pendlebury believes his side needs to be more effective with their ball-use going inside 50 in order to beat West Coast next weekend.

The Magpies will take on the Eagles at Optus Stadium in an Elimination Final, with West Coast winning the corresponding clash earlier in the year by 66 points.

While there has been a lot of talk surrounding Collingwood’s forward line and their individual performances this season, Pendlebury said it’s the ball carrier going inside 50 that has to make the right decision in finals.

“I think for us it’s our connection with the ball. I hear a lot about how our forwards have got to fire, but I think it’s our decision making going in to make our forwards look a little better,” Pendlebury told SEN Breakfast.

“So when the ball carrier has it 60 or 70 metres out, we (need to) pick the right option and our forwards to present six options for the ball carrier, but we need to pick out the right option.

“We’re still defending really well, sides don’t score a hell of a lot, but we’ve got to take our chances to score when the opportunity presents because you need scoreboard pressure in finals to give yourself a bit of a buffer and I think that’ll be our focus against West Coast who got hold of us last time we played them over there.”

Collingwood had 10 shots at goal against Port Adelaide from their 35 inside 50s in Round 18 and 12 shots from 33 entries against Brisbane in Round 16.