Stopping Collingwood’s slide is Craig McRae’s biggest test yet

Collingwood are sliding, and premiership coach Craig McRae is being tested.

They have lost four of their past five matches. In that time, they have dropped 12 percentage points and could be clinging on to fourth spot when this round ends. Their next match is against the Crows in Adelaide.

Jeremy Howe will miss again after being concussed and hospitalised after a brutal collision with Jai Newcombe just two minutes into the match against the Hawks. The Magpies said on Friday Howe had returned home, and will continue to be monitored.

“Jeremy, unfortunately, sustained a concussion early in last night’s game. In positive news, subsequent scans overnight have cleared him of any further injury,” Magpies football department chief Charlie Gardiner said.

As Howe recuperates, the Magpies must find a way to rebuild their on-field connection, and it’s not difficult to imagine it’s also being tested off the ground.

And the questions the coach had become so used to flicking down to fine leg or smacking back over the bowler’s head seem harder to play.

“You can’t sugarcoat that,” McRae said. “That one really hurt, just a lack of system and then a lack of fight, a lack of effort and sometimes at the same time which leaves us really vulnerable.”

It’s a big accusation for a coach to make; suggesting a lack of effort from players has brought more than one journo unstuck over the journey. From a coach, it’s a very rare occurrence.

But McRae pulled out a message he had been waiting a week or so to deliver and let it run with raised hands and gestures accompanying his delivery.

“You expect a certain amount of effort [and] we didn’t have it so you get disappointed with it. That’s certainly something we will dial into,” McRae said.

The score of 46 was the lowest kicked while he has been coach of Collingwood, yet it was higher than the tackle count which was an abysmal 42, for a team that has been known for its pressure and its connection.

McRae said he hoped such a lack of effort was an anomaly. His focus would be on the system and the process.

“They’re glued together by system and then you have great effort then we’re OK, but not tonight,” McRae said.

He detected desperation in their efforts rather than a belief in the system. He suspected they were overthinking things rather than staying dialled in. He wondered aloud why experienced players were making dumb mistakes.

The smiles were gone, but McRae’s homespun theories remain. They are as fascinating as ever, but they just don’t sound as convincing right now.

McRae slipped into a modern version of “Kanga” Kennedy’s “don’t think, do” message when he became animated explaining how he would coach them back to victory.

“When you start to think outcome and expectation then you’re not doing, you’re thinking. We want them to play,” McRae said.

“Nothing is permanent, nothing is permanent. I have never believed in form. I have never believed in confidence because the next action will be the one that decides if I am confident form-wise.

“You judge us on our outcomes, we judge ourselves on process. We have got back our system in, it has served us well.”

He is right. The system has served them well. But something has disrupted their flow. The players’ purpose does not seem as clear. Collingwood is vulnerable.

The coach doesn’t believe in confidence, but it doesn’t mean it doesn’t exist. He even mentioned his confidence they could turn things around. In Magpie land right now, however, it’s nowhere to be seen, nor is it supposed to be heard.

As for the Hawks, keeping the opposition to such a low score has them back in premiership calculations.

“To keep a potent side like Collingwood to a really low score I think was important for us and gives us a bit of confidence defensively,” Hawthorn coach Sam Mitchell said.

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