Collingwood recovered from an illness-hit week that left more than six players in doubt to beat Gold Coast on Sunday after the "man flu" ripped through the club last week.
The Magpies were worried that a number of players would be unavailable for the clash after being struck down with illness unrelated to COVID-19, with Jordan De Goey and Will Hoskin-Elliott missing training late in the week while recovering, but turned out a 25-point win over the Suns in a high-scoring MCG meeting.
Coach Craig McRae said the Pies had feared a number of their players would be unavailable for the game, including Callum Brown who was included in the starting 22 as a late inclusion.
"We're really proud of our performance. You don't see what goes on behind the scenes for a week and we've been scrambling all week to see what our best team is going to look like. We've got a lot of illness and injuries, [so] we're just proud of our boys to be able to reset ourselves and put our eye on the prize and come here ready to play, and kicking seven goals in the first quarter was a fantastic start," McRae said post-game.
"Half a dozen [players] and a couple of coaches [were struck down] and there's a lot of coughing and spluttering going on now, so we told them to get out of there.
"With COVID going on at the moment – we test every day – so there's no risk of that, but the man flu can be terrible for some, can't it?"
The Pies managed their season-best score under McRae's watch against the Suns (17.3.115), with Brody Mihocek booting four goals, and the coach said his attacking group would continue to blend. He also said it is likely the Pies stick with Aiden Begg and Darcy Cameron as their ruck partnership against Richmond next week.
"Our forward line is going to look different every single game. We'd love to get some continuity there, we're not, we don't have the magnets that we'd love to play, but we've got a system in place and we kicked 17 goals and had 30 scoring shots," McRae said.
"The system itself has players playing their roles and we've been able to score from that, which is really pleasing."
The Suns lamented their first term, which left them trying to track down the deficit throughout the afternoon. Coach Stuart Dew said his group came into quarter-time "a little bit despondent" but responded solidly and that they needed more consistency with the basics in their game.
"We don't want to keep being a shootout team. It's no good kicking 90 points if they're 115," Dew said post-game.
Gold Coast is now placed at 2-5 after round seven with clashes against top-four contenders Sydney next week at the SCG and Fremantle at Metricon Stadium in round nine. Dew said his leaders had addressed the team post-game.
"We're not going to sit here and go '2-5 is not where [we want to be], let's throw everything out and change it'," Dew said.
"That's one thing the players did talk about, that when we do what we plan to do we're a strong, dangerous footy side. That's one of the things the leaders touched on after the game with the players."
