Prior to a demolition of Port Adelaide that signalled to the AFL that Collingwood’s premiership defence is back on track, coach Craig McRae underlined the phrase “style points” on the whiteboard.
Collingwood, which overturned a 31-point first term deficit to win by seven goals, played with flair from quarter-time when completely outpointing the Power at the MCG.
Will Hoskin-Elliott sparked a surge in the second term with two superb marks deserving of the highest of style points while Nick Daicos was among the Magpies to dominate.
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'Work-rate and contest' key to loss | 05:48
But after a triumph that squared the win-loss record for Collingwood, while also adding ten points to the Magpies’ percentage, McRae was not fussed with the brilliance of their footy. The methodology did not matter. The result was all that counted, he said.
“I put on the board before the game ‘style points’ with a question mark,” McRae said.
“I think that the broader footy world is (offering) critiques. ‘You could be winning by more. You should be doing this better. And you are not quite this. And you are 17th (in the AFL) at this.’
“But, really, it doesn’t matter, because we’re in the process of qualifying. There’s only four points on offer today. Not ‘style points’. So we just had to get the job done and I don’t care what it looks like from here on to wherever.
“We’re just in the process of trying to get 14 wins, because that’s the number we think will make the finals. That’s all that matters right now.”
After dropping the first three matches in their premiership defence, Collingwood are not yet back in the eight.
But the Magpies will move ahead of the seventh-placed Essendon should they clinch the annual Anzac Day clash at the MCG on Thursday. That would take them to four wins, within ten of the mark McRae believes is a bare necessity to play finals.
After a good win over Brisbane on Easter Thursday at the Gabba, the Magpies went back to work on the training track, making the most of the bye last week to work on their ball movement.
For the first 20 minutes on Saturday they looked like they were still enjoying the break, but after getting a toehold late in the first term, Collingwood seized complete control.
“I heard (St Kilda coach) Ross Lyon speak about this post-game. This game is so, so difficult and every week is such a challenge. And he spoke about his back-to-back five day breaks,” McRae said.
“I’m not sure much gets mentioned around those things but there is a cost to that with training and then coming in a bit under done versus the opposition potentially.
“We’re not here to make excuses for them, but right now to have a couple of extra days to get mind and body ready, we felt that on Monday when they burst into work and got to training, that ‘OK. There is a bounce in their step’.
“(That allowed) to train a bit more and express ourselves a bit more in that regard. But we are still a work in progress.”
Hill hands selfless assists with a smile | 00:46
The Magpies dominated Port Adelaide when it came to winning contested possessions, particularly after quarter-time, which McRae identified as a factor in their ability to turn the match around.
Nick Daicos and Jordan de Goey claimed 15 contested possessions each, and Tom Mitchell 14, as the Magpies outpaced the Power by 41 in this facet of the game.
Jason Horne-Francis (13) and Ollie Wines (11) were the only Port Adelaide players to reach double-figures when it came to winning the contested ball.
Former Collingwood captain Scott Pendlebury was substituted from the match midway through the last quarter, just four possessions short of reaching 10,000 career disposals.
But McRae said the decision was made to give the veteran a slightly easier load ahead of Thursday’s clash with Essendon.
