THE COLOUR of choice around Collingwood is not a colour at all. It is black and it summed up the funereal mood among all at Collingwood on Saturday night as they attempted to come to grips with a premature exit from the finals.
Mouths agape, hands in pockets and barely speaking even in a whisper, Collingwood's inner sanctum, all wearing the club's corporate black, stood in the bowels of the MCG and pondered the abrupt end to a finals campaign that was supposed to at least continue through to a winnable clash with Geelong on Friday night.
"It's a feeling of shock," said skipper Nick Maxwell as he reeled off a number of key stats such as clearances and contested possessions that the Pies won handsomely, yet made no difference in a match in which his side ended 24 points in arrears.
"You don’t come to an elimination final expecting to be in this position. In the end they just overran us."
Collingwood coach Nathan Buckley couldn’t hide his disappointment as he spoke post-game. "We didn’t believe that our season was going to end here but it just shows how tough this competition is," he said.
And he forewarned of a frank couple of days at the Westpac Centre as the club digests what to make of a season that fell well short of expectations. The only madness to expect around Collingwood on Monday will be from a coaching staff that will have steam coming from their collective ears.
"We'll spend the next couple of days with the players, reviewing individually, reviewing our season and making sure we understand before we go away on our off-season, which has started prematurely in our belief, what we need to improve on," he said.
He was asked whether the disappointment this time around was greater than a bit less than 12 months ago, when the Pies lost to the Sydney Swans in the elimination final.
"Losing the preliminary final last year wasn't great. We lose an elimination final this year and it doesn't feel great," Buckley said.
"Anyone who finishes the season without doing a lap of this ground is disappointed in some shape or form and we've clearly got a lot of work to do still."
Buckley refused to comment on what list changes might take place at Collingwood next month, saying that list management discussions remain ongoing. So stay tuned for news on Andrew Krakouer and Alan Didak. And the out-of-contract Dale Thomas for that matter.
But he hinted that there might be a tough approach to who stays and who leaves and said the result against Port Adelaide should suggest once and for all that the 2010 flag is now ancient history.
"The club has got to ask itself questions. You've got to ask if we're making the right decisions in regard to culture and in regards to environment, personnel, game-plan and coaching staff," he said.
"If we have any person or anyone or have any thoughts at all that we need to cling onto what we've had, well then this is what lets that go and you need to keep evolving.
"You need to keep getting better, you need to be hungry and hard on each other and be prepared to continually improve whether you finish first or you finish last."
But with 40 players used over the season, the unveiling of a bunch of talented young players and wins over Geelong and the Sydney Swans, the season hasn’t been a complete write-off.
"Tonight didn't show it, but you know over the course of the last 12 months in particular, we're getting momentum in the right direction," he said.
