Collingwood have built a season no one saw coming off the back of acting like winners every chance they get.
A mantra birthed by coach Craig McRae that has seen Collingwood rise into the top four and now staring down the barrel of a preliminary final berth.
McRae's positivity has been as ever-present as his team's ability to steal victory from the jaws of defeat throughout his maiden campaign in the hot seat and he has done his best to share that energy with his players.
Following their loss to Geelong in the qualifying final, McRae was critical of a number of his players who were lying down on the hallowed turf of the MCG after just missing out on a ticket to the preliminary final.
โWe want to act like winners. The siren goes and thereโs half a dozen guys laying on the ground,โ McRae said post-game.
โFor me, thatโs not a winner. Thatโs acting like a loser. We lost a game, weโre not losers."
In the lead-up to Saturday night's semi final against Fremantle, McRae said he wants his team to take every opportunity they can to act like winners going forward as they have throughout the majority of the season.
"It's funny because we've been acting like winners for a long time," McRae told media.
"This is not something that is new to us, maybe for the broader footy environment. I shared something that has been ours for a long time.
"There's a sign when you walk in, it says "winners only". That's just about being winners every chance you have. I shared something intimate that I share with the players, it wasn't blasted to the players, it was a conversation.
"(There's) no time to lay on the ground and think about it. Get up and on Monday you walk into here and you wouldn't know if you won or lost."
Collingwood have to recapture their energy amongst a couple of negative twists with midfielder Taylor Adams tearing his groin off the bone and Jordan De Goey battling a shoulder issue.
De Goey looks set to take his place in the side for the do-or-die final after getting through some light training on Thursday morning.
"Jordy will be right to go, He's confident that his shoulder is all fine. He may have discomfort for the rest of the year I think," McRae admitted.
Adams will now miss the rest of the season and face a battle to be fit for day one of pre-season. McRae acknowledged that the Pies don't have an ideal replacement for the heart and soul player.
"What I do is take the magnets home and I sleep on them," McRae joked.
"If I have restless sleep I take a couple out and then if I have a good night sleep, those ones tend to go to the top. So I've got to take a coupe home and have a sleep on it.
"We don't have a plethora of Taylor Adams' on this list. He's a unique player, he's a contested player and we just don't have a replacement.
"What moving parts do we have? Can we get someone to play a different role? There's a whole array of things we need to discuss at match committee this afternoon.
"We saw in three quarters of a game how important Tay is for our clearances. We broke even against a really good clearance team and our pressure was really high and he drove a lot of that. We don't have a ready-made replacement so we're going to have to be a little bit creative."
