Magpies look forward after another loss

COLLINGWOOD coach Craig Mcrae was proud of his team’s effort in Thursday night’s seven-point loss to the Brisbane Lions at the Gabba, but conceded the squad had plenty to work on moving forward.

The Magpies fell to their thirdstraight loss despite leading by 12 points at quarter time and staying competitive across the other three quarters.

But speaking after the game as his team slumped to 2-3, Mcrae said honourable losses wouldn’t cut it.

“We are really proud of the effort, just the ability to keep coming. Really good opposition up here, big game. We had opportunities to get whooped off the park if you like, but we hung in there, and I reckon we learnt a lot about ourselves tonight,” he told reporters.

“We want to win. Let’s face it, honourable losses are one thing, but if you have 22 honourable losses you finish bottom.

“We‘re here to win and we didn’t get the job done and we’ve got some work to do still.”

Collingwood won the inside 50 count 62-54 on the night, but lacked class and polish in the forward half as the side was unable finish several chains of play.

The Magpies went into the game without four of their best forwards in Brody Mihocek (health and safety protocols), Jack Ginnivan (soreness), Beau Mccreery (hip) and Jamie Elliott (AC joint), with Mcrae flagging the former three as likely to return for the Anzac Day clash against Essendon.

And although swinging Darcy Moore (two goals) forward paid dividends, Mcrae conceded the bold three-tall setup of Nathan Kreuger (196cm), Mason Cox (211cm) and Darcy Cameron (204cm) “probably didn’t work”.

Jordan De Goey (four goals), Krueger and third-gamer Reef Mcinnes (two goals each) were the Magpies’ most lively forwards, while Cameron could be a forced omission after getting subbed out with a suspected cracked rib.

“It’s (the forward line setup) a work in progress …” Mcrae said. “We’re going to continue to work.”