Collingwood are serving up a most unappetising dish to date of their AFL premiership defence.
Thursday night time’s upset loss to St Kilda on the MCG leaves the Magpies in a 0-3 gap and coach Craig McRae says a few of their finest gamers aren’t doing the fundamentals correctly.
He’s likened his out-of-sorts staff to a tray of lasagne that has the components out of kilter.
“At the end of the day, if you have too much cheese on your lasagne, it doesn’t matter, it won’t affect the result,” he mentioned.
“You have to get busy and do the things right. The fundamentals of the game are really important and that’s where we’ll put our energy.”
McRae left their gamers on their very own for a number of additional minutes after Thursday night time’s loss to allow them to stew on what had occurred.
“You can see fundamental skills that are just sloppy, rusty, clunky,” he mentioned.
“There are a lot of fundamental errors that we’re making, from experienced players, that you wouldn’t expect.
“We have a few of our greatest gamers, and among the most embellished gamers you have seen within the sport, are considerably … we’re all on this.
“It’s time to get busy, isn’t it.”
Steele Sidebottom and captain Darcy Moore – two heroes of final 12 months’s premiership – had been amongst those that seemed out of types in opposition to the Saints within the 14.10 (94) to 12.7 (79) loss.
The Magpies had been additionally cruelled by a 30-15 free kick rely, however McRae mentioned a few of these frees in opposition to his staff had been justified.
“That’s a big number, isn’t it, and the crowd felt that. We love them for that,” he mentioned.
“But some of that stuff is real. We’re tackling too high … again, that’s fundamentals.”
There will probably be loads of commentary round Jack Higgins’ freak aim within the final time period that steadied the Saints, given the ball seemed to be out of bounds when he had his kick.
But McRae famous Geelong’s Jeremy Cameron was in all probability additionally out of bounds when he kicked a aim in opposition to them final 12 months, and Collingwood went on to win.
The Cats additionally made a 0-3 begin final 12 months of their premiership defence and missed the finals.
“That’s their story, they had their own story to tell, and ours will be different,” McRae mentioned, referring to Geelong’s travails.
“The reality of the competition is you have to get moving. We can’t live in this space that ‘we showed a bit more tonight and that will be enough’.”
McRae mentioned it’s not doom and gloom at Collingwood – he was rapt with Billy Frampton’s sport in defence – and he is decided that their poor begin to the season won’t have an effect on morale.
“What you see in front of you is a guy who hates losing. I absolutely hate losing,” he mentioned.
“But what you don’t see is the joy and the happiness and love and support for our players and staff.
“I’ve their backs … that stuff is just not going to alter.”
Source: www.perthnow.com.au
