Join now and get your first month for just $1.<\/a><\/p>\nThursday night\u2019s 64-point defeat at the hands of Hawthorn is the second-worst recorded under McRae – with their worst a 66-point loss also to Sam Mitchell\u2019s Hawks just 12 months ago.<\/p>\n
Statistics show the Pies are averaging just 69 points in their last five games while conceding 39 points from clearance in those losses.<\/p>\n
The 25 points scored by Hawthorn off Collingwood turnovers on Thursday night is also a third-worst under McRae.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s some real concerns with Collingwood,\u201d Fox Footy\u2019s Leigh Montagna said.<\/p>\n
Jack Crisp looks dejected after the loss to the Pies.Source: Getty Images<\/p>\n
\u201c20 players with 100 games (-plus experience) but they looked rudderless really with their leadership and what they were trying to do through the game.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey couldn\u2019t problem solve, they couldn\u2019t work out how to stop Hawthorn and how they could challenge themselves.\u201d<\/p>\n
Collingwood\u2019s woes were laid bare in the third term as damning vision showed just how easily Hawk Jai Newcombe was able to stroll inside 50 and convert for his side.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is a toasting \u2013 a midfield toasting at the moment,\u201d two-time premiership Roo David King said.<\/p>\n
\u201cNewcombe just exploded and they couldn\u2019t go with him. Look at Newcombe \u2013 all by himself, 30 from goal, corridor.<\/p>\n
\u201cNot one Collingwood mid responsible for Jai in the hottest of hot spots.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou can\u2019t go with this midfield.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m sorry \u2013 but they refuse to defend at the moment … Right now, they are being absolutely sizzled in the middle.\u201d<\/p>\n
Montagna warned it was \u201cstarting to unravel\u201d at the Pies late in the season.<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t think the midfield mix is right,\u201d he conceded.<\/p>\n
\u201cNow that both ends of the ground are sort of falling down, they are just a bit clunky.<\/p>\n
\u201cNow it\u2019s all starting to look a bit broken.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey\u2019ve got a bit of work to do to try and get their system back because there are areas of their game now that are becoming real red flags.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Magpies leave the MCG after the Hawks belting.Source: Getty Images<\/p>\n
The loss was so brutal, coach Craig McRae issued an immediate apology to Collingwood fans.<\/p>\n
\u201cI apologise to our Magpie army – that\u2019s a disappointing performance. You can\u2019t sugarcoat that,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re hurting. That one really hurt.\u201d<\/p>\n
AFL great Jason Dunstall said the Pies\u2019 \u201cpanic\u201d was ringing alarm bells as the fumbles crept in against the Hawks.<\/p>\n
\u201cYour confidence is shot and that\u2019s something you\u2019ve got to get back very quickly,\u201d AFL great Jason Dunstall added.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou can\u2019t just go out and pick it up off the supermarket shelf.<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t quite know what has happened \u2026 maybe the good teams have just caught up? Maybe just worked them out a little bit, or they\u2019ve had a few players drop off? I don\u2019t know what it is. But they need to discover something quick.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey look a little bit lost \u2026 there\u2019s some pow-wows need to be had down there.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen you look at 139 percent and they\u2019ve dropped 14.8 \u2013 nearly 15% – in the space of five weeks, that\u2019s massive.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen they got that 10 points clear we all sat here and thought, they\u2019ve prepared beautifully, they can manage their players, pick and choose the way they head to September. All of a sudden they are one of the teams in the top half of the table that have the biggest queries over them just about how well they are going.\u201d<\/p>\n
Two-time premiership Roo David King accused the Magpies of looking \u201crattled\u201d and \u201call at sea\u201d with their ball movement.<\/p>\n
\u201cCollingwood are now in a flat spin with their defensive 50 work. Which is their best midfield mix? I don\u2019t know. There\u2019s question marks now.<\/p>\n
Craig McRae leaves the MCG.Source: Getty Images<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ve talked about the heavy reliance on Nick Daicos \u2013 you can avoid that answer all you like but it\u2019s obvious for all of us to see.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey\u2019ve got queries you don\u2019t want.<\/p>\n
\u201cOver the last eight weeks, they are the easiest team to move the ball coast to coast against. Their back 50 is now a big concern.<\/p>\n
\u201c(Billy) Frampton looked all at sea. We don\u2019t know how Jeremy Howe comes through tonight \u2026 how is he long term?<\/p>\n
\u201c(Darcy) Moore is not the player right now that we had six weeks ago.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think they\u2019ve got real concerns defensively behind the ball.\u201d<\/p>\n
And it doesn\u2019t get any easier for the Magpies who will now take on ladder leaders Adelaide in Adelaide next week.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Collingwood\u2019s top four hopes are slipping away – despite the club sitting 10 points clear at the top…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":50542,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[560],"tags":[638,42715,64,63,689,55,639,9203,10133,10143,42713,42723,7492,42721,42717,12149,10132,681,12094,3465,42714,647,36657,42725,42719,677,14224,668,42724,42722,42720,12936,26498,85,42718,660,42716],"class_list":["post-50541","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-afl","tag-afl","tag-all-time-pre-finals-fadeout","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-australia-and-new-zealand","tag-australian-football-league","tag-australianfootballleague","tag-catherine-healey","tag-collingwood-magpies","tag-craig-mcrae","tag-damning-stats","tag-hawk-jai-newcombe","tag-hawthorn-hawks","tag-immediate-apology","tag-jack-crisp","tag-jason-dunstall","tag-jeremy-howe","tag-jon-ralph","tag-ladder-leaders","tag-leigh-montagna","tag-magpie-army","tag-melbourne","tag-midfield-mix","tag-midfield-toasting","tag-minor-premiers","tag-oceania","tag-points-scored","tag-press-conference","tag-real-concerns","tag-real-red-flags","tag-red-flags","tag-sam-mitchell","tag-shock-loss","tag-sports","tag-two-time-premiership","tag-victoria","tag-woeful-turnaround"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/50541","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=50541"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/50541\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/50542"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=50541"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=50541"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=50541"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}