WHAT’S GAMBLING REALLY COSTING YOU? Set a deposit limit. For Free and confidential support call 1800 858 858 or visit gamblinghelponline.org.au.<\/p>\n Fronting up after his side\u2019s equal-biggest defeat of the year – after trailing by just 10 points at half-time – McRae lamented multiple failings in what were tame celebrations of Scott Pendlebury\u2019s games record-equalling match. <\/p>\n \u201cThere are a few areas where we\u2019ve got work to do – centre bounce continues to be a major concern for us,\u201d he told reporters on Saturday night. <\/p>\n \u201cSix goals (allowed from the source) tonight is just not at the level against teams like Geelong – we just can\u2019t afford to have that \u2026 there\u2019s a little bit of inability to stop scoring out of that source.\u201d<\/p>\n Collingwood entered Saturday night dead last in the competition for centre clearances, with McRae conceding to Fox Footy pre-game it was \u201cno doubt a part of our game that\u2019s not quite where it needs to be\u201d. <\/p>\n The premiership coach was also disappointed with his side\u2019s back-half set-up, after going into the game ranked third in the competition for defending scores. <\/p>\n \u201cI thought we were just completely challenged around our defensive system. It was the first time this year we really got challenged around our mechanics of that,\u201d McRae continued. <\/p>\n \u201c(Geelong) took over 20 marks inside 50, (which) suggests that we\u2019re not defending that area as good as we can \u2026 (last week) we kept a really good opposition (Hawthorn) from scoring, tonight was just the opposite of that.\u201d<\/p>\n Pinpointing the source of the defensive issues, McRae said: \u201cThere were just so many breakdowns. <\/p>\n \u201cAnd again, obviously well done to Geelong for challenging that part of our game, but it was just breakdowns. Some of the fundamental stuff that we take great pride in, and other parts we were maybe just a bit outplayed in certain parts of the game.\u201d<\/p>\n It came on a night when captain Darcy Moore was concussed on the eve of half-time in a heavy collision with Geelong\u2019s Oisin Mullin. <\/p>\n Asked if Moore\u2019s absence in the second half was the root cause for the lapse in defensive integrity, McRae said he hoped that wasn\u2019t the case. <\/p>\n \u201cThey started well – it didn\u2019t help, we already had Steele playing back, and (Quaynor) was doing a good job on Dempsey on the wing \u2026 and we had to play Pendles a bit back there,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n \u201cIt happens. But again, it\u2019s not our story. I wouldn\u2019t think that Darcy going down is the reason why they kicked 18-odd goals. <\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019d like to think we\u2019re better than one person; we\u2019ve proven that when he hasn\u2019t played.\u201d<\/p>\n Scott fires back over GWS banner | 00:43<\/p>\n Also brought into question was the form of superstar midfielder Nick Daicos, whose disposal efficiency has fallen over the past three weeks. <\/p>\n And blanketed by Geelong tagging specialist Mullin on Saturday, Daicos notched 29 disposals but at just 55 per cent efficiency, managing 7.4 rating points after entering with an average of 16.33. <\/p>\n \u201cRespectfully, he\u2019s got a guy just hanging off him,\u201d McRae staunchly said when asked for the reason behind the drop-off. <\/p>\n \u201cHe had 29 disposals tonight \u2026 I would have thought that\u2019s the most that Mullin has given up – he did a good job, young Mullin, he\u2019s doing a great job for their team. <\/p>\n \u201c(Daicos) is such an elite player – we want the ball in his hands as much as we can, (but) everything\u2019s pressured. I haven\u2019t seen every one of his ineffective kicks. <\/p>\n \u201cWe also have a game (style) where we want to take territory. We won a flag in \u201823 (when) we were the worst kicking efficiency in the competition \u2026 kicking efficiency is not a number that we care too often about.\u201d<\/p>\n Beginning to be asked a follow-up about getting the footy in Daicos\u2019 hands, McRae jumped in, stating: \u201cI\u2019m not going to sit here and judge Nick Daicos\u2019 decision-making or his skill efficiency. <\/p>\n \u201cI think we all marvel at what he does. We\u2019re not perfect – we don\u2019t aim to be – he\u2019s an elite player of the competition getting tagged and trying his guts out for our team.\u201d<\/p>\n Craig McRae wouldn\u2019t accept criticism of Nick Daicos\u2019 decision-making.Source: FOX SPORTS<\/p>\n In the first half against the Cats, Collingwood was able to get its forward-half intercept game going, yet its familiar issue of not being able to capitalise on repeat inside-50s proved fatal. <\/p>\n McRae\u2019s side finished +7 for forward entries but registered a goals-per-inside-50 rate of just 11 per cent to three-quarter-time. <\/p>\n \u201cWe sat here last week saying we were lucky to draw the game with the numbers, and this week, we defended the front half of our game really well \u2026 (but) I just thought tonight we got a few decision-making things wrong,\u201d McRae admitted. <\/p>\n \u201cAnd we\u2019ll have to keep putting in front of the players around when to go fast and when to go slow – I thought we went too slow at times (tonight). <\/p>\n \u201cWhen we had one-on-ones and didn\u2019t take them, and we didn\u2019t be brave enough. So, we\u2019ll get to work on that.\u201d<\/p>\n The Pies will next week travel to play league-leading Sydney at the SCG without skipper Moore and 432-gamer Scott Pendlebury (managed). <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Collingwood coach Craig McRae has made a host of admissions around where his Magpies went wrong in their…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":660059,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[560],"tags":[638,64,63,689,55,639,13120,28962,10133,318945,10143,10989,318940,318939,164629,39201,150383,318938,13659,318942,3231,17997,318944,673,677,244619,318937,28885,668,318941,19083,85,69398,670,318943],"class_list":["post-660058","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-afl","tag-afl","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-australia-and-new-zealand","tag-australian-football-league","tag-australianfootballleague","tag-centre-bounce","tag-centre-clearances","tag-collingwood-magpies","tag-competition-getting","tag-craig-mcrae","tag-darcy-moore","tag-decision-making-things","tag-defensive-integrity","tag-defensive-issues","tag-disposal-efficiency","tag-elite-player","tag-games-record-equalling","tag-geelong-cats","tag-heavy-fadeout-loss","tag-jack-jovanovski","tag-kicking-efficiency","tag-multiple-failings","tag-new-south-wales","tag-oceania","tag-oisin-mullin","tag-particular-criticism","tag-premiership-coach","tag-press-conference","tag-rating-points","tag-scott-pendlebury","tag-sports","tag-superstar-midfielder","tag-sydney","tag-worst-kicking-efficiency"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/660058","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=660058"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/660058\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/660059"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=660058"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=660058"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=660058"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/1776909012_441_poster-fallback.png\"\/)
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