Collingwood coach Craig McRae said the Magpies came to the Gabba intent on making a “statement” after their poor start to the season.
And while it wasn’t perfect, the Magpies delivered on their promise in Thursday night’s grand final rematch, beating the Brisbane Lions by 20 points.
McRae emphasised his team’s focus on pressure and tackling going into the game, which it delivered in spades with 85 tackles – including 16 inside 50.
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“Clearly it was a step forward,” McRae said.
“Parts of our game were there to be seen but not consistently in the last three or four games, and in particular our pressure was something we wanted to raise the bar on because us at our best is a great pressure team.
“It was a damning number we looked at earlier in the week. Last year we were No. 1 in pressure or close to it, (this year) we’re 13th.
“It almost stung us all, we looked at the number and said: ‘Cmon, that’s not us’.
“So we tried to make a statement tonight in some ways or just put it right in front of the players’ face.
“We’ve got to pressure the opposition better than what we were. We had many times where one person was tackling on his own, and that’s not us.
“We got to work during the week on it and it was really pleasing for it to be seen.”
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The Magpies led by 24 points at quarter-time but were kept scoreless in the second quarter as the Lions fought back to lead by five points at the main break.
“We were under the pump. They’re a good team and on their home deck they were always going to get a roll on,” McRae said.
“That stoppage part of the game in the second quarter they completely dominated.
“Credit to our backs, we were lucky to be in the game. I thought the damn wall would open at some stage, and we were lucky, probably, going into the break with just a small margin against us.”
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McRae hailed the contribution of his senior players, particularly captain Darcy Moore, who was struggling for form entering the contest.
“I was really pleased with Darcy, leading from the front,” McRae said.
“Him and ‘Howie’ (Jeremy Howe) … just big spoils and halving contests.
“We’ve had a bit against some way in terms of the pile on but we’re a pretty proud group.
“You don’t get to see our Monday to Friday (work with) that energy and motivation for wanting to improve or not be happy with (our performances).
“We needed to get this thing moving, and it was pleasing that our best players played well tonight.”
Those best players included Nick Daicos, who starred with 30 possessions in his return to Collingwood’s half-back line.
“Part out of our game that wasn’t going was our defensive transition, we weren’t scoring from the back half and were turning the ball over a lot in that area,” McRae said.
“Nick for 18 months was arguably one of the best players in the competition playing half back.
“We moved him back there (from the midfield) to get some run and some overlap and some great ball use.”
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