Questions are being asked of Collingwood after their premiership hopes copped a hit with four losses to fellow AFL finals contenders in the past five weeks, with another blockbuster battle looming large.

The Pies’ barely fired a shot against Hawthorn last week and must now travel to Adelaide to face the rampaging, ladder-leading Crows.

And just what Craig McRae does with his best player could set the tone for the contest.

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Nick Daicos started on the bench against the Hawks and even days later Kane Cornes still “can’t make any sense of it”.

“I just wonder whether it’s a message to Nick, that’s the only thing I can think of,” Cornes said on Channel 7’s The Agenda Setters.

“Clearly, physically, starting on the bench isn’t going to be advantage, he either plays or he doesn’t. I’ve been saying all year he needs a rest but they haven’t done that.

“Is it a message to him that perhaps he’s gone outside of team values and team rules and this is one way to pull him into line?

“Has he been calling for the footy in the wrong spots? Has he been disgruntled with his teammates?

“I’m just asking the question because there’s no other reason I can see, your best player, who leads all the stats, would start on the bench.”

But that was just one theory amid Collingwood’s current malaise.

“It was surprising to all of us when the news came through that Daicos was going to start on the bench,” Nick Riewoldt said.

“Then you ask the question, have they been tipped off that there’s going to be a hard tag and so they’re trying to throw off the Hawks?

“But then with the (Jeremy) Howe injury — it ended up being close to 10 minutes that he was sitting there and actually got on the ground. It was a strange one.”

Daicos’s benching followed Scott Pendlebury starting as the sub in the loss to Gold Coast a month ago, the veteran watching on helplessly as the Pies went into half-time trailing 0.8 (8) to 6.7 (43).

The Pies might hope this week’s announcement that Pendlebury and Darcy Cameron have re-signed will boost the side against Adelaide.

Craig Hutchison, though, believes Collingwood’s lingering list management issues have had an impact on player morale.

Jamie Elliott is weighing up staying with the Pies amid reported interest from the Suns while Brody Mihocek is still waiting for a satisfactory offer. Both are 32 years old.

“I would think the volume of contracts and the uncertainty of the level of who is going on and who isn’t — I think that’s part of it,” Hutchison said.

“You can’t leave 17 or 18 decisions to the end of the year but the volume of them — you had (Harry) Perryman come in on big money, they’re reading about (Jack) Silvagni — I’ve got no doubt there is an element of that.”

Riewoldt replied: “Is that not a natural byproduct of having an older list? The commitment you make to these players is not going to be what they are accustomed to throughout their careers.”

Cornes agreed but said “it’s who you prioritise”.

“Even Cameron getting the four-year extension that takes him to (age) 35 — Mihocek’s saying ‘why is he getting four and I’m getting one?’”

“Mihocek’s been pretty good for them for a long period of time and very popular member of the team.”

Caroline Wilson said: “It was a big move to completely reshuffle the footy department. Putting Justin Leppitsch as head of list management, which Craig Kelly did last year, and there are some questionable decisions now. You just wonder how well they are going.”

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McRae has also come under pressure for two surprising press conferences over the past month, first targeting Fremantle’s tactics after losing to the Dockers by a point.

“They play a good brand of footy when they’re up and going fast,” he said with a smirk on his face.

“Maybe they should play a bit more of that at times. It’s a good version of them.”

Collingwood’s slump has since continued.

“I just wonder if the charm of the coach is wearing off slightly as well, particularly when you make comments about other teams that come back to bite you,” Cornes said.

“Since then, really, the numbers have dropped off the cliff. All the key offensive stats would say they are vanilla and ever since that comment it’s come back to bite him.”

McRae also publicly discussed his interest in luring Carlton father-son Jack Silvagni to the club, joking about the pair having had their first date and hoping for another.

“I can’t find a coach who wasn’t pretty unimpressed with the Jack Silvagni ‘going on the second date’ press conference,” Wilson said.

A loss to Adelaide this weekend would put Collingwood’s hopes of even making the top eight at risk, and the Crows’ tall forwards could prove to be a nightmare match-up for the Pies’ ailing defence.

Reviewing footage of the Hawks clash, Riewoldt described Billy Frampton as “essentially just a caravan getting towed all over the ground” with a lack of body work on Mabior Chol.

“We’re talking about a guy who was a really important contributor, lockdown player in a grand final ... they were all at sea again,” he said.

Cornes added: “Clearly there’s some craft stuff there but there’s also a lack of desire and effort that we saw from Billy Frampton.”

Riewoldt said it is “danger for Collingwood” if they fail to mark the ball and let the ball hit the deck inside the defensive 50.

“These are the coach-killers that Craig McRae referenced in his post-game press conference,” he said.

“You get what you deserve if you’re Collingwood, lack of physicality and pressure — and defensively, what was a strength is now a weakness.”