Collingwood coach Craig McRae has urged his staff to search out the starvation proven by tremendous sub Mason Cox after the Magpies slid to a 3rd defeat in 4 weeks.
McRae mentioned he felt just like the ladder leaders had been “biding time” till finals, however badly wanted to deal with evident points with their defence after coughing up the best rating of his tenure within the 24-point loss to Brisbane.
He praised Mason Cox’s efforts to swing the sport again in Collingwood’s favour in the course of the third time period, as he racked up 25 hit-outs and kicked a aim after changing concussed debutant Jakob Ryan simply earlier than halftime.
Provided with what may have been his ultimate alternative to win his spot again this season, the American ruckman signalled his intent instantly upon coming into play, pinning Cam Rayner for a uncommon holding the ball free kick.
“There’s something to be said about hunger, isn’t there? You take something away from someone and there’s an element of ‘I want that back’,” McRae mentioned.
“We’d love to get a little bit of that in all of our players right now, you just feel like you’re biding time somewhat.
“Mason came on in the second half and gave us a real spark, and I thought Pendles turned back the clock a bit in the middle of the ground as well.
“He had some really important moments, particularly in that third quarter, him and Mason really drove us forward.”
McRae mentioned a mixture of components had been behind his facet’s shoddy defence, with the Lions’ 124 factors the third consecutive century the Magpies have conceded.
“That’s exactly what I put on the board, actually – 124 points. It’s going to be hard to kick 125 in this competition,” he mentioned.
“I think the last four or five weeks we’ve just conceded too many goals, too many points. (We were) the number one defensive team in the competition for major parts of the year but we’ve lost that mantle over the last couple of weeks.
“We’re going to shine a big light on this part of our game … will it take maybe more than one week to get it right? I’m not sure, but we’ll be working hard to make sure the opposition don’t kick 124 points.”
McRae mentioned he was “pretty confident” Jordan De Goey and Bobby Hill can be obtainable to face Essendon subsequent Friday evening, whereas he confirmed Ryan had entered the concussion protocols.
He didn’t consider the damage to Nathan Murphy was main, however the important thing defender was visibly upset on the bench after he was compelled from the sphere with a suspected glute or again concern.
“It seemed like (Murphy) had a glute knock in the first half, and then landing on his back didn’t help that,” McRae mentioned.
“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 mentioned.
“It’s disappointing – his family is here, it’s a big occasion, unfortunately he didn’t get to finish the game.”
McRae wouldn’t entertain any speak of a hunch in type regardless of the run of losses within the final month.
“I don’t worry about form. What is form? A player is out of form, he does one good contest, he’s back in form, that’s it,” he mentioned.
“You get energy from doing good things. Were we out of form last week? I think form is an outcome of good action, so we just get busy on the action.”
Source: www.perthnow.com.au
