Australian football Hall of Famer Terry Wallace believes Collingwood blew its best chance to go deep into finals on Monday night.
The Magpies were held at arm’s length by Port Adelaide all night and the loss sees them finish the home-and-away season in eighth spot.
This means they will have to travel to Perth and go through hard quarantine before taking on West Coast.
Wallace can’t see them winning that game and believes they desperately needed the four points against Port Adelaide to avoid the match-up.
“I’d be shocked if they’re there in the second week of the finals now. That was the game that they had to win last night, it was all on the line,” Wallace told SEN’s Dwayne’s World.
“It was such a big game for Collingwood and realistically I don’t think they handled the occasion well at all.
“You can say that’s because they’ve got foot soldiers down and that’s absolutely correct, but when it comes to the crunch, I’m not sure where they actually sit.”
Wallace believes the Collingwood midfield needs to take accountability for the loss and feels they are developing a habit of struggling in big games.
“I keep hearing the Collingwood midfield is as elite as any midfield in the competition and I’m sure that Champion Data has got them ranked one, two or three or around that mark,” Wallace said.
“When you go through the personnel there’s no wonder why that’s their ranking, but when they’re playing in big games they have failed and that’s just the reality of where it sits.
“Go back to last year’s Preliminary Final, they won the hit-outs last year in the Prelim 78 to 16, so they controlled first use of the ball, but they were beaten 54 to 35 in clearance, which comes down to your midfield being able to get the job done.
“Last night they won hit-outs again 42-27, yet they were beaten in the clearances 40-28. The two biggest games they’ve played in up until this stage over the last two years, that game last night to open up any real chance in finals, and they’ve been beaten.
“Their midfield simply hasn’t been able to get it done when the crunch time is there. Tom Rockliff and Robbie Gray had 17 clearances between them. The whole of the Collingwood footy club only had 28.
“They were soundly, soundly beaten in that area once again and they’ve got to wear that.”
A win would have seen Collingwood taking on St Kilda in their Elimination Final.
They now face the Eagles next Saturday night at Optus Stadium.