Collingwood coach Craig McRae post-match
How do you assess that match?
Look, you can either focus on the first half, or the second half. As a group I spoke to them then – I was rapt with the second-half fight. Geez, we took a long time to kick a goal. Kicking nine or 10 points [before kicking a goal] will make it hard to win a game. I loved the energy and build-up of the game. First Friday night game in Queensland and [I was] rapt for south-east Queensland – having lived up here, for the Gold Coast to have this occasion, and rapt to be part of that and support that. It was definitely a game of two halves.
Do you think that is all the difference was – [not] kicking straight?
No. The game can be pretty simple. We kicked 8.6 from set shots and zero goals on the run. Late in the game we had a couple of chances to add the pressure, and we didn’t take that. My old coach Leigh Matthews used to say if you miss, it puts the pressure on the next person. When it is 0.9 there is a lot of pressure on the next person. Having said that, I want to focus on what we did do, rather than what we didn’t. The second half was way more the way we wanted to play.
Were you caught off-guard in the first half?
I’m not sure we were caught off-guard. Their intensity on the ball was way more than ours. You allow a team like the Gold Coast to get their pressure up and their energy around the ball, and the crowd roaring… we go down at half-time with a hefty margin. I didn’t love our mids at times tonight.
I didn’t think we worked hard enough at the contest and didn’t get our hands dirty enough [although that] would be disrespecting the Gold Coast. You watch that back they were dominant around the contest and clearance in the first half.
Were you thinking of getting Scott Pendlebury on the ground?
I don’t think that we want to be a team that relies so heavily on one person. I think we want to be better than that. It is a shame [Jeremy Howe] went down. It seems pretty minor at this stage, but we will wait and see.
What changed after half-time?
Well, again, I’m not the sort of coach that wants to concentrate on what we don’t have. That is done. What can we do about it? We want to play with better intensity and style. We could have thrown everything around, but we didn’t. Josh was brilliant in the last quarter. This is a qualifying time. We might need Josh [Daicos] in the midfield again.
Would you have liked to see something different happen once you hit the front and you had all that momentum?
Two goals from centre bounce really hurt, one in particular. I didn’t think that we were disciplined enough at that time. We had good ascendancy at the centre bounces and let that slip. No, we had our chances. Dan [McStay] had a chance and Ned [Long] had a chance to put us in front. We hit the lead for a brief moment. Similar to how we played up here last year. We had to make up a big margin and hit the lead and couldn’t quite finish.
Sam Clohesy’s goal just before three-quarter-time was vitalCredit: AFL Photos
Gold Coast coach Damien Hardwick post-match
How do you sum the game up?
We had an incredible first half, they had an incredible second half. At the end of the day, it was a flip of the coin, and we were lucky to come out on top. They have been playing that sort of football where they have a great understanding of playing in catch-up mode… they have been doing it for years. We are learning what it is like to absorb [that pressure]. We went into our shells, and we didn’t offensively challenge them at all. We will get some learnings out of it. The positive for us is we won the game.
All of a sudden, we looked like witches hats after Collingwood flicked the switch and they got up and going. They are a really good side and Pendlebury just oozes class and Nick [Daicos] was killing us, and Josh’s last quarter was just incredible. I think that we sent a message for someone to get Daicos and they assumed it was Nick, but it was Josh.
Was it important for you to be able to fight back after losing the lead?
That is the positive [to lose and then regain the lead]. We talk about a Suns team that fights and scraps and refuses to be beaten. It was similar to the game last year where we got headed, but what it did, it sparked us into playing again. We stopped moving the ball, and we stopped running. It was sort of noticeable when you have a really good side coming at you – that is our learning and our growth. What I was really happy with once we got headed [was the] boys got back to work and got the result we were after.
