Collingwood Head Coach Craig McRae addressed the media following Thursday night’s thrilling seven-point win over Melbourne.
McRae said he was proud of his side’s ability to hold off a fast-finishing Melbourne and capitalise on the Pies’ strong start to the game.
“In terms of the last quarter in particular, we knew Melbourne was going to come,” he said.
“To be able to hang in there and fight against the masses with the wave of ball in our defensive fifty, I thought our backs were enormous.
“Keeping them to 28 per cent or something on times they score inside fifty, that’s a huge effort from our backs and a collective from our team defence.
“We’re really proud and these don’t come around too often, to be able to win your first final and guarantee a home prelim.”
McRae said the high-octane nature of the contest meant it was always going to be a rapidly changing game.
“I think the game itself was always going to have ebbs and flows and moments of opposition having momentum,” he said.
“Their (Melbourne) best brand is get the ball forward from clearance and then lock it in, they’re one of the best teams in the comp at that.
“Our best version of us was a bit of transition, movement, flow and pressure and we score.
“I thought for major parts we managed to have the game on our terms showing our best, probably longer than they did.”
McRae said he always had belief in his side and felt that they were built for big matches like finals.
“I had to temper my confidence a bit going into the game to be honest, I just felt like we were really building for this game,” he said.
“Our training would suggest that, getting key players back would suggest that and I just had this great belief.
“When the rain came I thought ‘this is going to suit us’, because I thought we were going to come at them.”
McRae praised his defenders especially who he said intercepted the ball extremely well all night.
“We intercept marked the ball really well early and we rebounded off from that,” he said.
“Darcy, Howie, Q had a big game – he’s a good player.
“We played to our strengths early and then you get a scoreboard advantage and it’s hard to catch up.”
With a number of recruits stepping up, McRae was full of praise for the football department who have added significant talent to the list in 2023.
“Graham Wright is in the room, well done for getting players that make us better,” he said.
“Oleg Markov had moments tonight that were really significant and making us better, Tom Mitchell getting his hands dirty in the third quarter.
“Dan McStay, I don’t think I’m understating this, but he got a head knock…wasn’t playing well, I think everyone could see that and to be able to fight your way out of that, that’s a moment for him, that’s a moment of growth.
“So those players that we brought in, Bobby Hill included, have certainly made us better.”
Will Hoskin-Elliot was brilliant all game too, with McRae full of admiration for his selfless acts down back.
“He trained all pre-season in this role and it’s a credit to him,” he said.
“I’m not sure if the external world love him as much as we do, we love him a lot because he just does what the team needs every single time.
“I dropped him to the VFL one week, I didn’t know he’s never played VFL and he just said, ‘yeah no worries I’ll go back and do my job’.
“He’s the sort of player that players love playing with, and I certainly love coaching him.”
Now with another week off to freshen up, McRae was confident that Nick Daicos would be available for the Preliminary Final.
“That gives Nick and extra week to train and prepare,” he said.
“He would’ve probably come in a bit short next week (but) probably would’ve played; he’s progressing really well.
“Now he gets another week of training and load in, so things are going well and he should be available.”
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