In the space of a fortnight, Collingwood, heralded as the close-game masters for multiple years, has lost two games by a goal or less — and three for the season.

The Pies still sit two premiership points clear of Brisbane in first on the ladder, but they’ll come away from Sunday afternoon’s one-point loss to Fremantle thinking they should’ve got the chocolates.

Craig McRae’s brigade generated 23 more inside-50s and 20 more contested possessions than the visitors in a stark tale of the territory game, but despite going ahead by 22 points early in the last quarter, a raging Dockers outfit booted the game’s final four goals to cause a considerable boilover.

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“It just didn’t feel like we connected that well, this week, again. But it’s one of those hard games when you dominate so much of the territory, you’re winning it back and you’re going into such density, so it makes it really hard to score,” McRae explained of his side’s forward-half inefficiency during his post-game press conference.

“Can’t help but feel frustrated in that game, because you feel like you’ve done so much right, and then you don’t get the nourishment of the four points.

“There’s many layers to it, but our connection (going) inside 50 wasn’t at the level it has been, (but) also we thought we did enough to get the job done today.”

The Pies will be ruing the events of the third quarter in particular; generating 20 inside-50s to Fremantle’s six for just one goal to take a slender nine-point lead into the final change.

“In hindsight, I did feel like we were dominating the game, and we probably didn’t get the scoreboard reward for effort — it definitely felt that way at three-quarter time,” McRae said.

“We go into three-quarter-time with a margin, (and) I had this real inner trust and belief that we were doing enough right in the game all game … you guys watch us play; the pressure was there. We had a lot of good stuff.”

Collingwood is the league’s best defence this year, but after losing Jeremy Howe and Dan Houston to injury — joining underrated key backman Billy Frampton on the sidelines — the Pies conceded their biggest score in nine matches, since they gave up 83 points to the Dockers in their first meeting of the season back in May.

“They scored a lot easier than what teams have done against us in the past (for) per-inside-50 conversion.

“I think we’ll learn some good lessons around that. I think this is a day we’ll sit back — we want to get better every single day — this is one of those game we look at and go ‘Okay, we’ve got some work to do’, and I’d rather be learning those lessons now than learning them later on in the year.”

‘Grity’ & ‘brave’ Freo win over Pies | 12:27

Victorious Fremantle coach Justin Longmuir was probed on a contentious moment in the second quarter that saw one of his troops penalised 50 metres for ‘umpire dissent’.

Young Dockers defender Karl Worner paid a heavy price for his decision to point to the scoreboard after giving up a free kick for high contact against Lachie Schultz.

After directing the adjudicating umpire’s attention to the MCG scoreboard replay while pleading his case, the umpire marched him from roughly the 50-metre arc to the goalsquare for ‘dissent’ as a punishment, resulting in the simplest of Collingwood majors.

And post-match on Sunday, when quizzed on whether he thought Worner was harshly adjudicated given the lack of such calls made in the past 12-18 months, Longmuir began by saying: “I think that’s a great summary”.

“I’m not allowed to say anything about it, but how often have we seen that paid this year?

“I see it 10, 20 times every weekend, players pointing (at the scoreboard). I just don’t see it paid.

“So, are we going to stamp it out, or are we not? Is it going to be paid, or is it not? I don’t make that call.”

At half-time of Fremantle’s one-point win, the Fox Footy broadcast panel circled back to the controversial incident, with former Melbourne captain Garry Lyon calling the inconsistent interpretation “rubbish”.

“That just annoys me no end,” he began. “If you are going to pay that, you’re paying 50 of those free kicks (per) weekend for the last 18 weeks.

“And what? (In) Round 19, halfway through the second quarter of a Sunday game, you decide that’s dissent? That is rubbish.

“That’s why we lose our confidence in the umpire department. That’s not on, that … if you’re going to pay it, pay it every single time.”