After another great comeback, McRae has big names ready to come back into Pies line-up
After coming back from 54 points down to beat North Melbourne by one point, Collingwood head to their bye in the top four for the first time this season, with key players expected to return after the break.
Magpies coach Craig McRae said star onballer Jordan De Goey and key forward Brody Mihocek would return for the clash against Gold Coast in round 16, while Scott Pendlebury would probably be available the following week.
The Magpies are in a strong position to contend for a back-to-back premiership after they lost the first three matches of the season then battled through a six-game stretch in which injury decimated the team, leaving just 11 of last year’s premiership players on the field against the Kangaroos on Sunday. They were outside the top eight heading into the King’s Birthday clash with Melbourne, but can now make their own luck in a topsy-turvy season.
“We have got a bye now to reset,” McRae said. “I mentioned to the boys it’s not a full stop; it’s a comma. We can take a breath … we have had a really tough stretch here. The last five or six games we are fighting hard and the magnets don’t look the same, and we are throwing guys around.
“We have found a way and lost one game in that period, which, ideally, stands us in good stead.”
That they beat North Melbourne was something of a miracle as they trailed by 54 points early in the third quarter and 31 points at the final break.
But they kept coming, with precocious midfielder Nick Daicos producing 10 decisive possessions in the final term, while Bobby Hill kicked three of his five goals after taking a mark of the year contender in the second quarter.
Daicos had been well held by North Melbourne’s Will Phillips – the late replacement for the injured Jy Simpkin – but Kangaroos coach Alastair Clarkson decided to sub Phillips out of the game so that Jaidyn Stephenson could come on, with the tagging job handed to veteran Liam Shiels. Daicos made the most of the opportunity.
Clarkson defended his decision, but admitted that, given the result didn’t land his way, questions would be asked.
“We had the freshness of the sub, and Will was starting to fatigue a bit, and we just thought the freshness of the sub [and] Liam Shiels going to finish that job off,” Clarkson said.
“When you don’t win and you then say ‘Oh, geez was that pivotal?’ I don’t think it was pivotal in terms of the final result … you take some punts sometimes.
“Hindsight is a wonderful thing, and sometimes you make the right decision, and sometimes it doesn’t work for you.”
In the end, the margin was a single point after a snap from North’s Zac Fisher drifted wide with less than 30 seconds remaining.
They were also unlucky not to receive a 50-metre penalty directly in front of goal earlier in the final minute when Bailey Scott was paid a mark and Collingwood players charged over the mark.
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