Collingwood is continuing to drive the training standards under new coach Craig McRae, however he’s admitted it’s been “really difficult” given the flu sweeping through the club in recent weeks.
The Magpies have a record of 4-5 after Round 9 but have lost their last two games by a combined margin of 75 points.
That period coincided with a high level of sickness within the four walls. Several players were battling to get up for the club’s Round 7 clash with Gold Coast, while four players missed Thursday’s training session before the Magpies lost to Richmond.
Captain Scott Pendlebury was a late out the following week against the Western Bulldogs, while Jack Crisp and Steele Sidebottom have the flu as well this week.
With so many players coming and going, McRae, in his first year as a senior coach, has looked to implement a culture of performing at 100 per cent, even in circumstances that aren’t ideal.
“The last three weeks have been really difficult to maintain high training standards,” he told SEN’s The Run Home.
“We have six or seven guys not training each week, so the element (of a perfect preparation), there comes a time when that’s not going to be the case and you’ve just got to perform.
“We’ve had that phase the last couple of weeks of just not putting up with certain levels of things (and saying), ‘let’s just execute this’.
“I’ve said openly before, just because you’ve had a runny nose or a bad night’s sleep, doesn’t mean you can’t man up in the zone.
“So those elements we’re really driving hard the last couple of weeks.”
Heading into the Round 8 clash against Richmond, McRae told The Run Home that the club was at its worst in terms of the flu.
However, despite Collingwood going down by five goals, McRae said the stats out of that game proved they can find a way.
He was asked how the club convinces the players to give more.
“There's so many examples of it over time. I’ve seen it as a player, as a coach, and in other sports, amazing performances (can come when) sick. Olympic Gold Medals, there’s so many across the board, so I really feel this is something you have to win the mind with,” McRae added.
“There are situations I’m talking about. We played against Richmond and I’m going to say this openly, we were probably the sickest we’ve been, leading into that game.
“I know there are other layers of everyone else is sick and it’s going through other clubs, we’re not alone, but our last quarter against Richmond was our highest pressure and our highest contested possession for a month.
“So you go, ‘well hang on a minute, apparently we’re sick’, but we’re able to do this.
“Being able to repeat those behaviours is something we’re not there yet, but we’ve got to maintain standards and we don’t want to make excuses and we’re on the path to being that team.”
Despite being reported to be in doubt, McRae confirmed Jack Crisp would be named when teams drop on Thursday night, continuing his streak of 172 consecutive matches.