Jordan De Goey could be set for an extended period as a deep forward, after kicking six goals straight against St Kilda in Collingwood's 28-point win.

The talented 22-year-old has spent most of his career either playing further up the ground as a roaming half-forward or stints in the midfield, but coach Nathan Buckley suggested a more long-term change could be made.

The move to put the 187cm-tall De Goey as a deep forward was initially made out of necessity, with Jamie Elliott (hamstring), Darcy Moore (hamstring) and versatile key position players Ben Reid (Achilles) and Tyson Goldsack (knee) on the injury list.

"Jordy's going well, he's winning his one-on-one contests and he's finishing when he gets that opportunity," Buckley said.

"I thought he and Will Hoskin-Elliott and "Stevo" (Jayden Stevenson) looked dangerous at times deep. Trav Varcoe's pressure, along with "Wellsy's" (Daniel Wells) finishing pressure, we got the ball in there enough for those boys to go to work.

"I think he's enjoying playing as a forward, probably a bit more than he thought he would. At the moment, the way our midfield is structured, the way our forward line is structured, he's clearly important in that part of the field."

De Goey also kicked five goals a fortnight ago against Brisbane, meaning he has already kicked one goal more this season (15) than he did in total last year (14).

"If you've got a bloke who's going to kick fives and sixes, it's pretty hard to find those guys in the competition. It's not so much just the hitting the scoreboard, it's the contests.



Jordan De Goey has kicked 15 goals in six matches this season.

"His aerial impact, the fact he can win the ball on the ground, his speed – he's starting to understand the role more and more, too.

"He's still a young AFL footballer, still learning the caper and tricks of the trade and ways he can make life a little easier for himself and his teammates around him. He's coming along."

Buckley was disappointed with the last quarter, where the Magpies didn't kick a goal until the 26th minute despite going into the term 28 points ahead.

"It wasn't exactly what we wanted to do, we ended up looking like we were sitting 18 blokes behind the ball, and that's not exactly what we wanted to do.

"One goal, three (behinds) each is not a great impact on the score. It wasn't pretty.

"But St Kilda had eight goals from turnovers in the first half, only three in the second half and only one in the last (quarter), so from that side of things, it wasn't a disappointing defensive effort, but I didn't think we looked after the ball well at all.