Coach Craig McRae concedes Collingwood are “running out of time” to make finals and defend their premiership.
Collingwood’s finals hopes are on the brink after Friday night’s 20-point loss to Geelong left them sitting 10th, outside the top eight on percentage and in danger of falling further away.
The Magpies face Hawthorn, Richmond, Carlton, Sydney (away), Brisbane, and Melbourne in a tough run home.
“We’ll remove a lot of good things. However, McRae acknowledged that there are still six games left and that time is running out.
However, we’ll try to reward every action that contributes to our identity. But the clock is ticking. There is not much time left.
“We have a figure in mind that we believe will help us qualify for the finals. This year has most likely been unlike any other. However, we avoid discussing the future.
“I am aware of the ladder, and the majority of criticism stems from win-loss results.
However, we must say to ourselves, “Hey, let’s finish Monday really well. We live in that space.”
“But we’re also realistic; there are only six games left, and time is running out.”
Collingwood are without the likes of Brody Mihocek, Jeremy Howe, Beau McCreery and Tom Mitchell through injury, while Josh Carmichael retired due to concussion this week.
Lachie Schultz was concussed in Friday night’s game while Dan McStay is returning from his ACL tear via the VFL on Saturday.
When asked if he felt the Magpies’ injury toll was catching up to them, McRae said: “I do.
“I do feel like there’s a little bit of a dark cloud at times over us and I said that to the players this week. But we can’t live in that space.
“Josh Carmichael retiring (through concussion) – those things. We’ve got to be able to celebrate and support but also keep moving. Brody Mihocek, these guys. But we’re not here to make excuses.
“For most major parts of tonight we looked like ourselves and if you come watch us, there’s a lot of elements of us.
“We fight to the last second, we kicked the last goal of the game, like this is who we are and then when we perform better in other parts of our game, that last second generally might mean a bit more.”
McRae lamented Geelong’s dominance around stoppages but backed midfield coach Hayden Skipworth to address Collingwood’s on-ball issues.
Collingwood responded to losing the first three games of their premiership defence with an impressive purple patch and McRae indicated they could repeat those efforts.
“I don’t wanna look too far ahead but the space we live in – why can’t we perform really well in all the games that are coming up? There’s no reason to think otherwise,” he said.
“We’ll start to look at our group and who’s available, who’s not available and then keep trying to get better. That’s all you can do.”
