Brad Johnson believes illness was partly to blame for why Collingwood weren’t at their best in their loss to Melbourne on King’s Birthday.
The Magpies were outplayed for much of the day against the Demons and ultimately fell short after pushing late in the 66-62 result.
While there’s no doubt the Demons are a quality side, the result was somewhat of an upset given the Magpies were 11-1 heading into the game.
Even though Johnson doesn’t expect Collingwood to use illness as an excuse for the defeat, he was certain that multiple Pies including Nick Daicos weren’t at 100 per cent after speaking to the young gun out on the ground pre-game.
“I was just thinking over the weekend because on Monday I was sort of just standing around (on the MCG),” Johnson explained on SEN Sportsday.
“The (Big Freeze) slide had just happened, and Collingwood were warming up and I just said, ‘G’day’, to Nick Daicos, who was doing some stuff near me, and he didn't sound great.
“Now, the Pies won't use the illness as an excuse and none of us ever have because you put it (the jumper) on, you've committed yourself to play and away you go.”
As well as Nick and Josh Daicos, Johnson named several other Magpies that he understands were ill during the week and suggested that the team wasn’t at their optimal best as a result of sickness.
“But it just sort of got me thinking around that it (illness) is real,” Johnson said. “It's a real reason as to why you mightn't play to your optimum or it's a real reason why if there's a collective (illness) in the group, the team won't play to their optimum.
“I know that the two Daicos boys (were sick) Collingwood released that last week, (Brayden) Maynard was crook as well.
“I understand that that (Mason) Cox, (John) Noble and (Will) Hoskin-Elliott weren't great also throughout the week and they had (Beau) McCreery on crutches post-game.”
Johnson credited Melbourne for grasping the opportunity provided to them by the sickness surrounding Collingwood as he felt the Demons would have gained a mental edge knowing some of their opponents weren’t at 100 per cent.
“What I'm getting to is, that I think it was a real reason why Collingwood didn't perform to their optimum on the weekend and why Melbourne took the most of that opportunity to beat the top team,” Johnson said.
“Now, that's great for Melbourne at this particular point. “You've got to do that, if the opposition present in a way that's not 100 per cent healthy in this, in this situation, you've got to grasp that.
“You've got to actually use that to your complete advantage in that mental approach whether it's to outrun them, beating them on the outside, pushing them harder, being more aggressive in the contest to try and break them down when physically they're not at their optimum.”
Without taking anything away from Melbourne’s win, Johnson believes that the example of Collingwood being ill shows that almost nothing can go wrong later in the season if sides are to win a premiership.
Johnson believes all teams that win flags have elements of luck with health typically on their side on the last day of September.
“It's about pure health in the finals series,” Johnson said. “I think it was Geelong in recent times, the year before last they had a lot of guys that were ill leading into a final and they lost that final.
“I think it's part of the element of luck that we talk about in some ways that everything's got to be going 100 per cent smoothly and right for your club to win the premiership.
“Health and illness is a big part of it, especially when that can filter through not one or two players, but up to 10 to 15 players can be affected by the likes of the flu.”
Collingwood and Melbourne players now earn a week off with the bye where they’ll recuperate ahead of their Round 15 clashes against Adelaide and Geelong respectively.