McRae won't push panic button on Magpies' form slump
With three games before finals, Collingwood (15-5) will end the weekend off the top of the ladder for the first time since round nine after losing to reigning premiers Brisbane by 27 points at the MCG on Saturday night.
Trailing by just a point at the main break, the Magpies' midfield was bullied by the Lions in the second half, losing clearances 31-13 over the final two quarters.
"It hasn't been a pattern for us, our contest has been really strong the last weeks," McRae said.
"Brisbane apparently had a stern and honest session about their contest stuff (after being thrashed by Gold Coast).
"I said (to the Collingwood players), 'do you need that from me? Do you want?'
"I don't think we need that, we've got a lot of trust in our group."
Collingwood started their season by being smashed by GWS, suffering a 52-point loss.
The Magpies have lost another four games since, but McRae believes that was their worst performance of the lot.
They slammed through five goals to Brisbane's two during a dominant second term, but were unable to deliver anything close to their best in the other three quarters.
Collingwood haven't beaten a current top-eight team since they crushed Hawthorn on May 30.
"If you're a Collingwood supporter at home, you'd think we played probably as bad as we've played since round zero (against the Giants)," McRae said.
"That's real, but that would be disrespecting Brisbane's hunt and pressure.
"I actually sent the runner out three times to say 'can we kick the ball?'.
"You can hear the supporters, 'can you kick it?', and they cheered us when we kicked the ball."
McRae is not interested in comparing this slide to what Collingwood experienced in 2023 before winning the premiership.
The Magpies lost three out of four games late in the season, recovering to peak in finals.
The positive to come out of their first loss to the Lions at the MCG since 2014 was the returns of Jordan De Goey and Bobby Hill.
De Goey was lively, kicking a long-range goal in the second quarter, before being subbed out in the third term due to playing his first game since May 3.
Hill, who has missed a month due to personal reasons, started as the sub and replaced De Goey, taking a hanger and slotting a goal in the last quarter.
"It's the long game for those two guys, they're huge, important games when they're fit and well," McRae said.
Collingwood will enter Thursday night's clash with Hawthorn coming off a five-day break.
But premiership star Jeremy Howe could be fit to slot into a defence badly missing his experience.
Young Lions forward Logan Morris kicked a career-best six goals, two weeks after Fremantle's Patrick Voss did the same in a close win against the Magpies.
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