Collingwood coach Craig McRae has condemned the booing of Isaac Quaynor and Dan Houston in the Magpies' 24-point qualifying final victory over Adelaide.
Adelaide star Izak Rankine was suspended for four matches for directing a homophobic slur towards a Collingwood player while Houston crossed from the Crows' arch-rivals, Port Adelaide, in the off-season.
"It is disappointing, not just Isaac but Dan," McRae said post game.
"I'm just not a booer, I said this years ago … I just get disappointed with that. I find that really disappointing.
"When I first heard it, I thought, jeez that's disappointing. I'm really proud of him and Dan and others. We'll protect our players as best we can, we'll love and support them around the edges and we'll celebrate this one."
A 10-minute withering burst early in the third quarter opened up a gulf on the scoreboard, but Collingwood's win was built off the back of relentless defensive pressure around the contest and a sound intercepting game which limited the impact of Adelaide's tall forwards, particularly Riley Thilthorpe and Darcy Fogarty.
Quaynor and skipper Darcy Moore led that charge with Quaynor winning several critical one-on-ones, particularly in the first half, while Moore finished with nine intercept marks.
All 13 of Moore's possessions were intercepts, with the 2023 premiership captain showing incredible resilience to play such a significant role after a pair of early errors led to the Crows' only two first quarter goals.
“He's been working towards that, I thought he played really well here a couple of weeks ago,” McRae said.
“His ability to get his positioning right to then go and intercept mark - he had an enormous amount of impact on the game.
“He's an integral part of what we want.
“We struggled without Howey and a few other things but (backline coach) Jordan Rughead has done a fantastic job with our backs.
“We came into this game with the best defence in the competition… and kept the best offence in the competition through 24 rounds to 55 points.
“That's not just one person but Darcy was a big part of that.”
By earning the week off, the Pies now may regain important defender Jeremy Howe for their next match, with the 35-year-old currently sidelined with a groin injury.
"He is a good healer, he keeps telling me. He will be a chance for the prelim. I'm not going to declare that, but it will be a watch this space. I'm sure you'll watch every move. He'll be touch and go," he said.
"We went into this year learning some great lessons from last year - the magnets looked really good last year and they were fit to play, but they weren't fit to perform.
“That's been our catch cry all year, if someone's not fit to perform they don't play. We've expressed that throughout the year and that won't change now. If he's fit to perform, his magnet will be in the team."
Powerful on-baller Jordan de Goey was another key component of the victory, providing defensive midfield presence in the first quarter, before his trademark skillset came to the fore to finish with 26 disposals and six clearances – both team-high figures.
“There was a period there where we thought I'm not sure if he's going to get back and credit to him, he did the work.
“And I said a couple of weeks against Melbourne, he's way ahead of where I thought.
“I was rapt to think if we had him as sub tonight, that's where I had him in my vision, and he was out there being beast mode.”
