After contending for much of his charmed tenure, Collingwood coach Craig McRae has conceded his side just may not be up to it in season 2026.
Speaking after his side's last-gasp, four-point loss at the hands of the Western Bulldogs, the 52-year-old South Australian was forced to again lament an inability to win clearances against the better sides, even though developing commodity Ed Allan showed glimpses of his negating side, late in the contest.
"Yeah, we're middle of the road. That's a reality," McRae said, post-match.
"Clearances were significant in the first half. Centre bounce gave a lot of territory against, and then we got that right in the last quarter which I think changed the game for us… (We) couldn't manage 'Bont' in major parts.
"Ed Allan went to Richards in the third and started to do a pretty good job on him, and then 'Bont' was out of control so we flipped that, and next thing Richards gets out of control," McRae explained.
"I thought our fundamentals were really off early. We were handballing at peoples' feet and a bit scratchy around that. It's hard to put a finger on that, 'Pendles' (Scott Pendlebury) has played more games than anyone in the history of the game, (and he also) handballed at someone's feet, and you [think maybe it] 'just happens sometimes'."
Collingwood, as they so often have under McRae, tossed the kitchen sink at their fancied opponent in the last quarter, playing with a renewed verve and a reckless abandon in taking corridor whenever it availed itself to the men in black and white, and sometimes, when it did not.
The question arose quite naturally surrounding Collingwood's hesitance to play in that manner before the final term, given the relative success it generated.
"I said… in front of the boys, 'I hope you don't think we're trying to restrict you from playing this way, we want to play like that, let's go'," McRae said.
"Obviously within reason, you're playing some teams that want to have a bit of a shootout game, there's times where you say 'let's see if we can make a contest' and see if they want to play that, because we can play different modes and different gears, but again, maybe we might need to release the shackles a bit at times to allow them to play with a bit more freedom."
Maligned Magpie Jordan de Goey turned in a terrific performance, and had a hand in everything his side did offensively. Young Bulldog Michael Sellwood had a "Leo Barry" moment of his own, clunking an impressive and contested intercept mark in his own defensive 50 at the game's late climax.
The Bulldogs face Hawthorn on Friday night, while Collingwood have to wait until next Monday to attempt to right their ship; Melbourne and the Big Freeze await McRae and co.
