More top eight intrigue as Dogs win in the mud; Magpies ‘right on the edge’ of being ‘losers’

A little bit, they are the best at scoring from stoppages. We knew that. When you are a bit off against a team like that that will obviously hurt you. It cost us field position early. And in the conditions, which, we normally play pretty well. It just look like they played better than us. From early in the game. That is disappointing. You don’t like to be outplayed in the adjustment that is provided by this condition. And that I thought, really late in the game, we end up trying to score and then you look really bad when that does not come off so leave that to one side. When the game was a bit more on the line we had chances going and we just kicked it to them. Again, it is like, unusual. We will do our best not to drop a bundle.

It look like you started the game with a foothold in the third quarter, missing a few opportunities, did you tweak anything at the start of the term?

We did at halftime, we changed a few things. We had a few guys that were off and some of our best players that we tried to get into the game a bit more with a few positional changes. It looks good early in the quarter. Again, even then, it looked like we had some ascendancy and we just gave the ball back. Again, I will say it about the fourth time, it seemed uncharacteristic going into what looked like good looks into what looked like good looks into a forward line. We just pick them out almost as if we were trying.

Losing Tom Atkins before the game, one of your better weather plays.

He is good in those conditions so that was disappointing but we had so many players off, I’m not sure that Tom could have made up for it.

“We’re still breathing here. Nothing’s finished,” McRae said.

“I guarantee you we’ll walk in on Monday and we’re getting to work.

“Nothing’s finished, there’s no end point right now.

“We’re on this journey of discovery of a new version of us and exploration.

“We’re still getting better every day, so where’s the end point on that?

“This is a different version of us potentially - maybe we have got to go through this to be a better version of us.”

McRae felt there were many areas where Hawthorn made his side look second-rate but insisted the Magpies’ shortcomings - in areas such as contest, commitment and organisation - could be fixed quickly.

Despite wet conditions, Collingwood conceded the highest score of McRae’s tenure as Hawthorn piled on seven goals to one in the first half and another eight majors in the final term.

“That is not a representation of us. That was pretty ugly at times,” McRae said.

“We’re not going to enjoy watching some of that back, because that’s not who we want to be.”

McRae didn’t believe his players gave up, but conceded the performance flew in the face of the culture he has tried to build at the club.

“We’re a team that’s spent the better part of two-and-a-half years building a culture about being ‘winners’,” McRae said.

“We lost today and we were right on the edge of being ‘losers’.

“You can lose and still be ‘winners’, and we were right on the edge.”

Collingwood lost Nathan Kreuger to concussion but could welcome back Beau McCreery and Lachie Schultz from injuries against Richmond next round.

AAP

After closing the gap to eight points at three-quarter-time, Richmond pulled a shock by substituting captain Toby Nankervis out of the match.
Tyler Sonsie was activated at the start the fourth with the Tigers confirming Nankervis as a tactical measure.
Nankervis had a marginally edge in the ruck battle in the first half before having his colours narrowly lowered by Jordon Sweet in the third stanza.
“A tactical error in my view by the Tigers,” Fox Footy’s David King said on commentary.
For three quarters, the Power’s supremacy at the coalface - Dan Houston, Ollie Wines and Connor Rozee prominent - was offset by the Tigers’ speed and slickness on the outside.
Without their skipper, Richmond lost their way in the last quarter, Port boasting huge advantages in hitouts (15-5), clearances (10-3) and inside-50s (16-7).
In the end, only errant goal-kicking prevented the Power from turning the arm wrestle into a total rout.

Connor Cut Down

Power captain Connor Rozee’s challenging season with injury took another turn when he hobbled off Adelaide Oval in the fourth term with a hip-pointer issue.
After retreating to the rooms to receive treatment, Rozee had some run-throughs but didn’t participate any further.
The skipper’s relentlessness at stoppage and classy finishing had him high among Port’s best before the issue, the severity of which is to be determined.
The Power need Rozee, who earlier this season was sidelined with a hamstring injury, to be fit and firing for the taxing road ahead, with difficult clashes with Carlton (away), Sydney (home) and Melbourne (away) on the immediate horizon.

KEY STATS

We still have to get there. It is a close competition. We have to prove a lot to ourselves and we know what we are capable of and as you know this competition every week presents a new challenge. This is one of the biggest ones we have faced in a while. A good win last week that we have not necessarily been able to back them up this season and this puts us one step forward but the challenge is to keep repeating it no matter what. Home or away.

You came in with a tall line-up and given the conditions it could have been a risk but it paid off unbelievably. The talls up forward and back they played a wonderful game.

Especially when most of them are good below the knees. That is one thing you need to be in the modern game. In the air and on the ground. Darcy is probably the one who is still growing into his body still. He gives you great aerial presence. I thought they all worked quite well tonight. At times in recent history, they have clung together and at the drop of the ball would have been done. They are doing a lot of good work getting space between each other and isolating a bit better and I feel like that is helping the front half game.