Collingwood coach Craig McRae has scoffed at suggestions that his side is out of form despite slumping to their third loss in four weeks.
The Magpies have sat at the top of the AFL ladder for all but one round since round seven and still sit a game clear on top despite last night’s 30 point loss to Brisbane at Marvel Stadium.
The Magpies conceded over 100 points for the third game in a row, an area that the Magpies have been resolute in under McRae having only conceded triple figures four times in his tenure.
But despite the patchy run of form, McRae was staunch in defending his team’s run of form when quizzed post-game as their stranglehold on the competition continues to soften.
“You’ve asked me this before; I really don’t know the answer to that.” McRae said
“You see actions of hunger. Last week our hunger for pressure was like ‘come on, give me some more’ … that was for everyone to see and I thought that was there for most of the night tonight. I thought that part of our game was strong.
“These other parts of the game but you’re getting to this time of the year, you’re playing good teams, we’re not playing mugs.”
McRae conceded that it was an inopportune time for Collingwood to be facing a patchy run of form and a mounting injury toll, with more casualties emerging from last night’s game.
But the Collingwood coach has urged his players to stop “biding time” and use the final moments of the regular season as a “moment in time to qualify”.
“In two weeks’ time, it’s a different game,” he said. “The whole competition starts again. It doesn’t really matter where you qualify, it all starts again.
“The challenge for us is not to be there already. Then you get there and you haven’t got the energy … then you get there and there’s a switch and you click it? That’s not reality.
“You want certain parts of your game going well; it doesn’t have to be all humming along … I think that doesn’t necessarily need to be the case.”
a glute knock in the first half, and then landing on his back didn’t help that,” McRae said.
“It’s unfortunate, the poor lad (Ryan) playing in his first game. He gets a knee in the back of the head and he’s got concussion, so he’ll be out in the protocols,” McRae said.
“It’s disappointing – his family is here, it’s a big occasion, unfortunately he didn’t get to finish the game.”
