{"id":50918,"date":"2025-08-07T17:37:07","date_gmt":"2025-08-07T17:37:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/50918\/"},"modified":"2025-08-07T17:37:07","modified_gmt":"2025-08-07T17:37:07","slug":"craig-mcrae-round-22-press-conference-collingwood-magpies-loss-to-hawthorn-hawks-jeremy-howe-concussion-can-they-make-top-four-interview-latest-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/50918\/","title":{"rendered":"Craig McRae Round 22 press conference, Collingwood Magpies loss to Hawthorn Hawks, Jeremy Howe concussion, can they make top four, interview, latest news"},"content":{"rendered":"

Collingwood coach Craig McRae has lamented his side\u2019s \u201clack of fight\u201d during their 64-point thrashing at the hands of Hawthorn on Thursday night<\/a>, but remains adamant he will not judge his side on their recent run of form.<\/p>\n

A seven-goal blitz from the red-hot Hawks played the largest part in handing the Magpies their fourth loss in five games, and now leaves their top four hopes on a knife\u2019s edge.<\/p>\n

The defeat, which was their worst in over a year, acted as a very underwhelming showing for two-time premiership player Steele Sidebottom\u2019s in his 350th AFL game. Ironically, it was an 11-goal loss to Hawthorn in Round 19 last year that last trumps their efforts here.<\/p>\n

FOX FOOTY, available on Kayo Sports, is the only place to watch every match of every round in the 2025 Toyota AFL Premiership Season LIVE in 4K, with no ad-breaks during play. New to Kayo? Get your first month for just $1. Limited-time offer.<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cI apologise to our Magpie Army … that\u2019s a disappointing performance, you can\u2019t sugar-coat that. We owe Steele Sidebottom more than that too; he\u2019s a legend of the footy club. We\u2019re hurting,\u201d McRae began.<\/p>\n

\u201c(It was) just a lack of system, and then a lack of fight \u2014 sometimes at the same time, which leaves us really vulnerable. Anyone that\u2019s watched us over the last few years would say: \u2018They\u2019re basically glued together by system … but not tonight.<\/p>\n

\u201cRight now, we\u2019ve got to get our system back in check, because it didn\u2019t really matter who played and (moving magnets). We\u2019ve got to glue that back together.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Pies lost all of inside 50, contested ball and clearance, and also allowed the Hawks 33 more marks to see them dominate on both the inside and outside.<\/p>\n

Implications for Newcombe, Howe after KO | 01:01<\/p>\n

In an incident that undoubtedly stunned the Magpies from the get-go, veteran Jeremy Howe was knocked unconscious inside the first minute of the game<\/a> \u2014 significantly disrupting their defensive structure against an ultra-tall Hawthorn attack.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t want to make excuses… it rocked us. It was right in front of us, it rocked us and it rocked some of our staff. We hope he\u2019s okay, and we hope his family\u2019s okay too,\u201d McRae said.<\/p>\n

The fourth-year head coach believes that their Round 22 performance was the worst he had seen his side for a long time in multiple aspects, which the Hawks took full advantage of.<\/p>\n

Quizzed once more on Collingwood\u2019s recent string of losses, McRae could not have been more clear in emphasising that he does not believe in form, nor confidence.<\/p>\n

Have Collingwood been found out? | 04:45<\/p>\n

\u201cFor a long time, I don\u2019t recall us having that poor a connection when we moved the ball and defended the ground,\u201d McRae continued.<\/p>\n

\u201c(If) you\u2019re playing top eight teams or (higher and) give them a chance to play to their strengths, you\u2019re going to get hurt. And we got hurt really bad.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe want to be a team that turns up every week. Nothing\u2019s permanent, and I\u2019ve never believed in form (or) confidence, because my next action will be the one that decides if I\u2019m confident or (in-form).<\/p>\n

\u201cConfidence is an outcome, form\u2019s an outcome. We live in process. You judge us on outcomes, we judge ourselves on process. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe lost a few minutes and seconds tonight, but we\u2019ve got to stay present to that. When you start to think outcome and expectation \u2014 then you\u2019re not doing you\u2019re thinking, we want them to play. So we\u2019re confident we can turn those things around.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hawthorn hammer Pies by 64 points! | 02:14<\/p>\n

While still impactful and blitzing in patches, the Magpies were evidently missing the absolute best of Nick Daicos, who recorded his lowest disposal count for two months. <\/p>\n

However, in reality Daicos\u2019 output couldn\u2019t be questioned as it was their lack of pressure that cost them far greater. The Pies did not have a tackle inside forward 50 to their name at half time, evidently missing the injured Beau McCreery and ill Bobby Hill.<\/p>\n

The start of McRae\u2019s most prized possession on the bench intrigued journalists post-game, and responded to a question of \u2018why\u2019 with: \u201cBecause everyone starts in the bench in our team. No one\u2019s bigger than individual … it\u2019s nothing major at all, everyone takes a turn. Josh (Daicos) started on the bench last week, and I think it was a pretty cool thing.\u201d<\/p>\n

Collingwood\u2019s next shot at turning around their lean patch comes next Saturday against the top-of-the-table Adelaide, who incredibly, they haven\u2019t lost to for over nine years.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Collingwood coach Craig McRae has lamented his side\u2019s \u201clack of fight\u201d during their 64-point thrashing at the hands…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":50919,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[560],"tags":[638,64,63,55,639,14349,10133,10143,29661,42944,667,42945,7492,19100,10132,681,42947,42714,42948,668,42943,42946,85,36848,42949],"class_list":["post-50918","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-afl","tag-afl","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-australian-football-league","tag-australianfootballleague","tag-bobby-hill","tag-collingwood-magpies","tag-craig-mcrae","tag-defensive-structure","tag-disappointing-performance","tag-footy-club","tag-fourth-year-head-coach","tag-hawthorn-hawks","tag-jai-newcombe","tag-jeremy-howe","tag-jon-ralph","tag-lowest-disposal","tag-magpie-army","tag-multiple-aspects","tag-press-conference","tag-pretty-cool-thing","tag-seven-goal-blitz","tag-sports","tag-steele-sidebottom","tag-two-time-premiership-player"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/50918","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=50918"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/50918\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/50919"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=50918"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=50918"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=50918"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}