PAINFUL EXIT: I won’t stay, I want to leave collingwoods hero makes decisions on his future
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. Clarkson refused to discuss the umpire’s non-decision when asked about it post-match.
In a good sign for the Kangaroos, Collingwood defender Jeremy Howe said the pressure North Melbourne applied was the fiercest the Magpies had faced all season. He said it was obviously good to win, but the Magpies would not win many games if they continued to allow opponents to open up nine-goal margins on them.
Howe, who moved forward in the second half and put the Magpies in the lead with his 100th career goal, described the first half as disappointing.
“[At half-time] ‘Fly’ [McRae] used the word disappointing, and I don’t reckon I have ever heard him say that,” Howe said. “That cut pretty deep for the playing group, so it was like ‘get to work in the second half’.”
McRae also praised North Melbourne, with second-year player George Wardlaw the dominant player on the ground in the first half and Luke Davies-Uniacke and Nick Larkey winning their positions.
“That was a struggle, that really was a struggle,” McRae said. “Their midfield was exceptional, their work rate, their energy … there is a lot of excitement I’m sure for North out of today.”
There is also plenty of excitement at the Magpies. Howe, sporting a swollen nose, admitted the bye had come at a good time for the club.
“The selection dilemma will come, but the bye comes at a good time, not only for the guys who have been getting opportunities and been really influential in what they are doing, but a week off will be nice,” Howe said.
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