Join now and get your first month for just $1<\/a>.<\/p>\nThe Magpies coach conceded his side\u2019s failure to seize \u201ccritical\u201d moments was costly in an area the most experienced team in the competition is usually so well drilled.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe didn\u2019t take our chances,\u201d McRae told reporters post-match.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn a low scoring game and tough conditions. Even just decision making stuff late.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ve traditionally been really good at this thing, managing these moments. We just didn\u2019t manage ours tonight.<\/p>\n
\u201cSometimes you\u2019ve got to live it to go through it to grow. That could be our story, I\u2019m not sure.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut we just didn\u2019t manage those moments in critical times.\u201d<\/p>\n
It included a series of costly misses from Dan McStay and Lachie Schultz close to goal early in the fourth quarter that could\u2019ve consolidated Collingwood\u2019s scoreboard advantage, before it was overran in the dying stages.<\/p>\n
McRae defended his players for failing to capitalise on those gettable opportunities, but noted it contributed to his side\u2019s wasteful night.<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t think anyone goes to bed going: \u2018You know what, tomorrow I\u2019m going to set a goal \u2014 I\u2019m going to miss a goal from 20 metres out in critical moments\u2019,\u201d McRae said.<\/p>\n
\u201cSometimes you have to live through it to grow. Those guys in particular didn\u2019t take their chances, that\u2019s part and parcel with footy, I suppose. You\u2019re paid to do that and you\u2019ve got to get to work on those things.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe game is not decided by those moments. I don\u2019t want to put that pressure on them, but it does matter, doesn\u2019t it? When you don\u2019t quite execute.\u201d<\/p>\n
He added with a smirk: \u201cTalked around in a bit of a circle then trying to protect them, didn\u2019t I?\u201d<\/p>\n
McRae lamented Collingwood\u2019s \u201cmessy\u201d forward half in an area it needed to \u201ckeep evolving.\u201d But he said \u201cthe reality is we did enough to win this game\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think everyone could see that, we just didn\u2019t quite grab our chances in tough conditions,\u201d McRae continued. <\/p>\n
‘Eager’ Daicos STARS in return for Pies | 01:10<\/p>\n
And while the Collingwood premiership boss was ultimately left \u201ca bit frustrated,\u201d he was pleased with the way his side responded to a 54-point loss to reigning back-to-back premier Brisbane.<\/p>\n
\u201cLast week we didn\u2019t do the jumper proud,\u201d McRae said. <\/p>\n
\u201cWe had \u2018Wakes\u2019 (former Magpie Shane Wakelin) present the jumper to young Angus Anderson in his first game.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve never worn the jumper, so I can\u2019t speak of it. But he had emotion, what it meant to him to wear the jumper and be part of the Collingwood family.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s important that out players put it on and it represents something. <\/p>\n
\u201cFor most parts of tonight, I thought we did the jumper proud. We\u2019ve got some work to do, no problems at all. But at least that part of our game, our DNA, if you like, was on show. In tough conditions.\u201d<\/p>\n
Anderson shone on debut including registering seven of his 16 disposals in the third quarter and kicking his first goal, adding five marks, six tackles with 482 metres gained in 67 per cent time on ground. <\/p>\n
McRae was impressed with the 22-year old South Australian, who was drafted with Pick 57 in last year\u2019s draft. <\/p>\n
\u201cPleasing for him to come in and show everyone what he\u2019s good at,\u201d the Collingwood coach added.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou can say it pre-game: \u2018Watch this guy tackle, watch this guy\u2019s toughness\u2019.<\/p>\n
\u201cWell, you\u2019ve got to go do it, first time playing AFL footy. He\u2019s one who wore that jumper with great prude<\/p>\n
\u201cLooks like a Collingwood player for a while now, if he keeps playing like that.\u201d<\/p>\n
McRae was also full of praise for Billy Frampton, declaring the Pies defensive stopper was \u201cplaying as good as I\u2019ve ever seen him play\u201d after he held Josh Treacy goalless for the first time in 2026.<\/p>\n
However he observed Nick Daicos was \u201cstill sore\u201d and didn\u2019t \u201cquite have the same gait he (normally) does\u201d in his return from a calf injury, with the Pies superstar still racking up 31 disposals, 10 contested.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile Jordan De Goey\u2019s (concussion) night came to an abrupt end to continue a rough injury run for the midfielder-forward, who\u2019s set to miss next Thursday\u2019s night clash with arch rival Carlton.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe\u2019s a bit rusty. Fingers crossed he isn\u2019t too bad and it doesn\u2019t linger around,\u201d McRae said.<\/p>\n
\u201cI didn\u2019t see any of it, I just got told he\u2019s out for the game. I\u2019ll need to look at that.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Collingwood was once the kings of the clutch. But a \u201cfrustrated\u201d Craig McRae has rued the Magpies\u2019 inability…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":598112,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[560],"tags":[638,170575,64,63,55,639,684,651,104725,10133,10143,49773,288949,25968,10124,291757,27725,10991,10140,291761,285400,80391,4873,291760,84662,291759,85,36890,291758],"class_list":{"0":"post-598111","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-afl","8":"tag-afl","9":"tag-angus-anderson","10":"tag-au","11":"tag-australia","12":"tag-australian-football-league","13":"tag-australianfootballleague","14":"tag-ben-cotton","15":"tag-brisbane","16":"tag-clutch-goal","17":"tag-collingwood-magpies","18":"tag-craig-mcrae","19":"tag-dan-mcstay","20":"tag-defensive-stopper","21":"tag-fade-out-loss","22":"tag-fremantle-dockers","23":"tag-guy-tackle","24":"tag-jordan-de-goey","25":"tag-josh-treacy","26":"tag-lachie-schultz","27":"tag-magpies-loss","28":"tag-manage-moments","29":"tag-matthew-johnson","30":"tag-post-match-press-conference","31":"tag-premiership-boss","32":"tag-reporters-post-match","33":"tag-scoring-game","34":"tag-sports","35":"tag-territory-dominance","36":"tag-tough-conditions"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/598111","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=598111"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/598111\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/598112"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=598111"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=598111"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=598111"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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