North Melbourne great David King has hailed Collingwood’s Round 10 win as one which showcases to Magpies faithful that they have more than one avenue to victory.
Coming off two disappointing losses, Craig McRae’s side would have fallen two games and percentage behind the top eight if they’d lost to Fremantle as expected.
However, the rain came tumbling down and Collingwood brought the heat, laying 89 tackles (29 above their season average) in the 80-44 win.
During the week, McRae had spoken about his no-nonsense approach to dealing with the flu outbreak that had struck down the Pies in recent week, King praising the coach behind the win.
“Craig McRae’s language is different to other coaches, he’s positive when he has to be but when it needs to be said, it gets said,” King told SEN’s Whateley.
“No excuse policy… you’re either playing or you’re not… it’s a no waiver type stance, and I think it’s fantastic.
“They played a brand yesterday that was too hot for Fremantle to handle. Their pressure was intense, their leadership is just first-rate.”
The Pies had gone 2-2 through the previous month of the season before crossing the Nullarbor to clash with Fremantle, but those performances hadn’t come off the back of elite pressure.
They hadn’t laid over 56 tackles in the previous four weeks, so to deliver such a different style of win impressed King, who now believes the club has added another weapon to their arsenal.
“They defy a lot of the metrics because of how they play, but the one reason they won so convincingly was they were aggressive when they took possession of the ball in terms of getting themselves out of traffic and getting through to that next layer all the time,” he continued.
“And (they) had a real push and a real desire to score, which is not familiar for coaches who have taken over the reins in years gone by, but we see it from (Sam) Mitchell and McRae.
“Then, you don’t often see the mix of power to score and pressure when you lose control of the footy, and their pressure was so good yesterday, I think that Craig McRae would be saying, ‘we now have other ways to win. It’s just not on brilliance, it’s just not on our senior players, it’s just not one person doing X, Y or Z, it is about us submitting the opposition to a heat they can’t handle’.”
Seven Magpies had five or more tackles on Sunday evening, including ruckman Darcy Cameron laying an impressive eight of his own.
Collingwood’s win keeps them within touching distance of the top eight and sets up what is likely to be one of the biggest games of the home and away season against Carlton on Sunday.