A tough three-game run against Carlton, Sydney and Brisbane looms large, but Collingwood defender John Noble says the Magpies can quickly recover from Saturday’s horror loss.
It comes as club president Jeff Browne concedes luck had “a lot to do” with last year’s premiership, as well as this year’s decline.
Noble says his teammates are “really optimistic” they can keep their premiership defence alive despite being humiliated by Hawthorn in a 66-point defeat at the MCG.
The 27-year-old, who struggled with only seven disposals in the wet conditions, said the gap between Collingwood’s current level and its best football was not as vast as it looked from the outside.
“It might seem like it’s far away from the outside, but we know what we need to control and what we need to do to make our best footy shine,” he said.
“It has been disappointing. We’re not playing the footy that we know we’re capable of at the moment.
“Our connection that we really pride ourselves on isn’t quite there at the moment, and we’re aware of that. We’re going to work extremely hard during the week to get back (to our best).”
After Sunday afternoon’s clash against Richmond, the Pies will face three top-four sides in consecutive games before finishing their home-and-away campaign against Melbourne.
Noble said the side would not pull the pin on its finals bid despite its current form and the gruelling fixture ahead.
“We’re really optimistic about how we can play our footy. There’s five games left and our season’s far from over. We’re going to fight for any minute of those games,” he said.
“For us to play those teams towards the end of the year – we look at that as a really good challenge.
“We don’t see it as a threat because if we are going to play finals, we’re going to play those teams anyway. It’s a good time to see where we’re at against those sides.
“We’re optimistic with how we can play and we know our best footy is more than capable of beating those sides. It’s just a matter of piecing those little bits together.”
Noble said the Magpies had been buoyed by Daniel McStay’s return from his pre-season ACL injury in which he took five marks and kicked a goal.
“It was awesome, an amazing story for someone who’s worked so hard. You only have to think back to Vic Park when it happened and the tough times that we went through in there as a team,” Noble said.
“We really got around him. He was able to pull up well after the game, and to see him get on the scoreboard was really special.”
Meanwhile the Magpies’ unfortunate run with injuries has had a lot to with their slide in 2024, according to club president Jeff Browne.
McStay’s absence in the 2023 Grand Final was one of the lone issues the club dealt with as the club won a ridiculous rate of close games.
“The reality is as much as we like to heap praise on ourselves for the genius of winning a premiership, luck has a lot to do with it,” Browne told AFL Media.
“We got most of our good luck last year, we are squaring up the ledger with a fair degree of bad luck this year.”
Source Agencies
