Collingwood coach Craig McRae says that the club’s players and coaching staff held pretty frank conversations on Monday following Friday night’s 80-92 Round 17 loss to Essendon.
It was the second-straight loss for the Pies and the third game in a row that they’ve given up 90 or more points and McRae knows that his side must tighten up defensively.
Sitting ninth with an 8-6-2 win-loss record, the reigning premiers aren’t just in danger of falling out of contention but the finals race as a whole, but McRae says that conversations are well underway about the team they want to become again.
The coach joined SEN The Run Home following those discussions on Monday with the coaches and players well and truly into what he described as “solution mode” ahead of Friday’s clash with Geelong.
“A lot of stuff that happened early (against Essendon) wasn’t sustainable,” McRae told SEN The Run Home.
“Like you kick goals from clearances with Jack Crisp, we got three goals in a row.
“Parts of our game just got away from us, defensively in particular.
“We’re going to tidy up. Today was a pretty pointed day. I come here with good energy because I know we’re in solution mode, we had a lot of pretty frank conversations about the team we want to be (today).
“Certainly Friday night wasn’t that (team we want to be).”
The number one topic that was discussed at training on Monday was pressure, with the Pies having their worst game in terms of pressure differential for the season in the Bombers loss.
Despite losing on the scoreboard, the Pies made just 43 tackles to Essendon’s 56 and had just four tackles inside 50 compared to their opposition’s 12.
McRae hopes that the side will rebound if that high-pressure level and tackling returns.
“Well, for us (the most important thing), it’s pressure,” McRae said.
“There’s an element to our game that you’ve got to bring pressure. We’re one of the best pressure teams in terms of differential in the competition.
“But it was our worst pressure game for the year. They had 130-odd uncontested marks. It’s hard to tackle when you don’t have the ball.
“Then we sort of moved the ball a bit differently at times and we can control some of that … then it’s the opposition doing some really good stuff.
“The Bombers are really slick with the way they outnumbered us and then maintained possession at times … there’s a lot of little things, but fundamentally if you want to point a finger at, that’s something that we need to get better at (pressure).”
The Pies will be desperate to bounce back when they host the Cats at the MCG on Friday night at 7:40 pm (AEST).