Pelchen, who played a key role in Port Adelaide's first AFL premiership and Hawthorn's recent golden era, has expressed grave concerns over the Magpies' off-season recruiting that brought in veterans Daniel Wells, Chris Mayne and Lynden Dunn from other clubs.

The trio were picked up by under-fire coach Nathan Buckley to help fast-track a return to finals after three consecutive barren seasons.

But after seven rounds, the three players have played just seven games between them this year and, with a 2-5 win-loss record, Collingwood are staring down the barrel of a fourth consecutive season without finals action.

"It will really challenge the leadership of the club," Pelchen told Fairfax Media.

"You'll potentially have different factions start to splinter the club because some people will think, 'We have gone too hard at getting mature-age recruits over the past couple of years at the expense of attacking the draft or ensuring we retain our younger players'.

"Some may have even believed the risk was too great but unfortunately, if you give too much control to your coach or any one senior figure in the club, then their concerns aren't heard or even worse, they are ignored.

"Personally, I feel that Nathan Buckley, whether it be through the influence of (president) Eddie (McGuire) or others, has led the push to bring these mature-age players into the club and it may very well hurt them."

Pelchen says the Magpies' woes have come down to poor recruiting. Photo: AFL Media/Getty Images

Pelchen, who also had a stint as St Kilda footy boss, admired Buckley for publicly putting his job on the line last year by saying there would be "no way" he would remain Collingwood coach if the club failed to make the top eight again, but he viewed the remarks as a double-edged sword.

"It displays a strength of character on one side but a degree of desperation on the other," he said.

"As a result, the mature-age players brought into the club are 'walking the plank' and expected to help the coach survive or go down with the ship.

"But either scenario represents short-term thinking and something that I don't think Collingwood needed to do.

"If they had maintained a strong approach to 'growing their own' and using their Total Player Payment space on developing players rather than spending it on older recruits, then I would argue they would be in a better position.

"Collingwood are undoubtedly a proud and successful club but desperate decisions will inevitably cause fragile outcomes and I believe the Magpies have misread their ambitions compared to their abilities, primarily out of loyalty to their coach."

Pelchen says the Pies should have had a greater focus on younger Draft talent. Photo: Pat Scala

Pelchen believes Collingwood will be forced to continue playing their older recruits to justify their recruitment to the club, exacerbating the situation.

"These senior games would be better used on younger players who will benefit from the experience and contribute to the team's future, but therein lies the predicament facing the Magpies - a senior coach publicly coaching for his survival versus what's best for the club beyond 2017," he said.

"The two are often in direct competition to each other unless you're the Bombers of 1993, the Hawks of 2008 or the Bulldogs of 2016."

Pelchen said Collingwood had erred in several ways with regards to their list strategy and was alarmed by suggestions that they have "maxed out" their salary cap despite having not featured in the finals since 2013. It's a scenario that he believes has left them vulnerable to losing talented youngsters to other clubs.

"Firstly, they have brought in too many players from opposition teams over the past three (to) four years. It needs to be quality over quantity. While quantity may increase overall depth, it has a dramatic effect on a club's capacity to develop and retain youth," he said.

"Secondly, the amount that Collingwood has paid on these experienced players. It's a natural effect that attracting mature-age recruits will increase a club's TPP spending, so it must be done both strategically and selectively.

"It's one thing to stretch your TPP space when playing in grand finals or being in the window of success - but to overestimate the value of your player list, or worse still, to overestimate the value of opposition players, is a real mistake.

"Teams like Hawthorn, Sydney or Geelong would have all had understandable TPP challenges in recent years but the Magpies should be several years away from having similar problems.

"Multiple draft picks and increased spending have been allocated to secure opposition players against maintaining a stronger draft focus and building a 'war chest' of TPP space for the retention of youth."

Pelchen says Darcy Moore has been one of the Pies' few success stories. Photo: AFL Media/Getty Images

"From a pure numbers position they haven't had strong returns, which then places greater attention onto their overall list strategy," he said.

"Collingwood will now have to defend their position at some point. I anticipate the club will say, 'but we've picked up players like Treloar, Adams and Hoskin-Elliott in the past three years who are all current or potential stars so we've done the right thing'.

"Unfortunately, that is deflecting attention away from the real issues at play like: who have they selected or could have selected in the draft, how could we have better used the TPP space that the mature-age players have demanded, who do we risk losing because bigger contracts have been given to older players, and how many games of senior football will be lost on playing short-term recruits rather than developing younger talent?

"To minimise your draft participation is to limit your ability to turn over your list with the necessary talent required to be a force in the AFL competition."

Collingwood will aim to keep their faint finals hopes alive when they face Greater Western Sydney at Spotless Stadium on Saturday.