‘What do you want us to do, play worse?’: Pies doubt that just makes coach ‘shake’

Collingwood's strong home-and-away form suggests they are primed for another premiership run, making them an appealing option for punters looking to bet on the team for the title. However, given the historical difficulty of leading teams converting their regular-season success into a flag, bettors should consider the risks involved.

Collingwood coach Craig McRae says he deeply struggles with the concept that top teams struggle to convert sustained, dominant home and away form into a premiership. The Magpies, who held on for a one-point win over Melbourne on Monday, sit one-and-a-half games clear on top of the AFL ladder after Round 13 and remain clear premiership favourites. But over the past 11 seasons, only two teams on top of the ladder after 13 rounds have gone on to win the flag: Melbourne in 2021 and McRae’s Collingwood in 2023.

When it was put to McRae by Gerard Whateley on Fox Footy’s AFL 360 that history suggests it’s hard to “lead wire to wire” in an AFL season, the Magpies coach interjected and said: “We did it the other year. I keep hearing that, we’re ‘playing too well’ apparently? I can’t have that ... what do you want us (to do), play worse? I just don’t get it.”

“We’re in the position of getting better, that’s what we try to do. We want to improve ourselves. “Yeah I get challenged with that (concept), I just shake.” Whateley said the more pressing issue was whether Collingwood’s already-decent gap over the competition could be seen as a “burden” for one team. McRae replied: “Potentially. Forecast back two years ago, we were 18-5 – and this is a different team.

>“As you’re seeing, we’re finding different ways to win. You go through our wins this year, there’s a lot of different ways we’ve won: Through stoppage, through transition, today was through ‘grit and find a way’, Fremantle was through role compliance and other ways. “We find out about ourselves and what parts of our game can improve and put energy into and parts of our game we don’t want the opposition to take away from us.”

Collingwood’s dam wall again held firm, with its defence standing tall in a one-point thriller against Melbourne on King’s Birthday Monday. The Pies lost the inside 50 count by nine, but the AFL’s best defence stood firm and held off a brave Melbourne. “I said to the players after the game: ‘We’re in the qualifying phase at the moment and you’ve just got to find ways to win.’ We found another way to win today,” McRae said.

“It was a real struggle, an arm-wrestle. Pretty hard conditions out there, so you can’t move the ball as well as you would’ve liked. “I thought the two defences won today and it was really hard to score at times. My summation is Melbourne are really good.” It was another tight, thrilling win by Collingwood, which has become the AFL clutch kings under McRae this decade.

“I think the reality is this group knows and feels comfortable in that place,” he said. “I said that after the game to the players, in that we know what we need to do. Signs go up and runners go out, but the players are the moving parts make that happen.”

Collingwood coach Craig McRae says he deeply struggles with the concept that top teams struggle to convert sustained, dominant home and away form into a premiership.

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