Collingwood coach Craig McRae has admitted that his side's Friday night performance against the Western Bulldogs was "poor", as the Pies sink to a four and five win-loss tally.
The prime time clash was all but over within the first term, with the Bulldogs kicking six goals to one, cruising to a 32-point quarter time lead.
Speaking to media post-match, McRae was refreshingly honest, admitting that fans had every right to be disappointed by the performance under Friday night lights.
“I don’t want to sit here and make excuses for our effort because I thought we were poor,” McRae said.
“I think anyone watching at home would say the same and (they would) be disappointed in the way we went about it.
“You’ve got to give credit to them, they were up and about and a different level to what we were and I don’t want to take away from that but I just want to be better than that.
“I want to put a display on. Friday night lights are bright and they were shining on us and we were disappointing.”
The Pies were on the back foot from the get go, falling behind 26 to 10 in clearances by half time while the Dogs put on a show.
“There’s some contested method around that we need to improve on,” McRae said.
“Just thought our fundamentals on a whole were really down today. We’ve been doing a lot of work on it, but we’ve got more to do.”
Former Pie Adam Treloar had a brilliant night against his old side, ending his evening with 36 disposals and three goals, while Bailey Smith ran rampant with 41 disposals.
To further sour the evening, reliable backman Jack Madgen was subbed from the game after suffering a shoulder injury in the second term.
Despite Collingwood's solid start to the season, a loss to West Coast and disappointing outings against Richmond and the Bulldogs have put them on the back foot, hovering outside of the eight ahead of their Round 10 match against Fremantle in Perth.
