A GUTTED Nathan Buckley believes Collingwood's failure to slow a rampant Adelaide in the second half cost the Pies victory in Sunday's MCG thriller.
The Crows eroded a 50-point Collingwood advantage at the start of the third term, drawing level with their opponents after Mitch McGovern's clutch set-shot goal after the final siren set up the third tied game of the AFL season.
Asked his immediate reaction after the draw, Buckley said: "Disappointment, largely. Bit of anger."
Buckley said the Magpies had themselves to blame for allowing the competition's highest scoring team to kick 81 points in the second-half after they held the Crows to just 22 points at the major break.
Five talking points: Collingwood v Adelaide
"If you give Adelaide turnover opportunities they'll take it, they're the best in the competition at it, and we weren't able to take that away from them for long enough," Buckley said.
"We planned to be a little more frugal with our ball use…when we tried to go a little faster we tried to put a fire out by putting petrol on it, basically, through the third quarter and early into the last.
"We took the flow of the game away from our grasp and handed it over to a pretty good opposition who were able to work their way back into the contest and ultimately square it."
WATCH: Wells' blinder amongst the chaos
Buckley said letting Crow Jake Kelly mark uncontested, which set up the final scoring drive, and McGovern's towering pack mark in the dying stages of the game was a sign of Collingwood dropping the ball in the second half.
"Late in the game Jake Kelly takes a mark and clearly we want a better contest from our big fellas there," Buckley said.
"But if you told me at the start of the afternoon that you're going to have a 50m kick, (land) 20m out from the opposition's goal and you're going to have 14 blokes in the pack and all you need to do is hit that spoil and bring it to ground, you'd take it.
"We weren't able to get it done and that was a sign of the second half where we weren't able to do the little things right often enough to beat the ladder leaders."
WATCH Nathan Buckley's full post-match press conference
Despite the final result, Collingwood did a lot right throughout Sunday's game against the competition's best side.
The Magpies' midfield was dominant, smashing the Crows (167-111) in contested ball with Daniel Wells (34 disposals and three goals), Taylor Adams (34 and three) and Steele Sidebottom (33) all "turning themselves inside out" to get their team the result.
The performance of Wells, who was clearly best afield in one of the greatest games of his 252-game career, justified his recruitment as a free agent from North Melbourne on a lucrative three-year deal, according to Buckley.
Wells, 32, was playing in just his ninth game of the season against the Crows with two separate calf injuries keeping him from reaching his peak at Collingwood thus far.
"Every time he plays he validates the willingness to get him in," Buckley said.
"There's still a lot of things in his control that he can help us with in being better prepared for a season (Wells came back to pre-season out of shape) and he's spoken about that.
"But geez when he's up and about we're a much better side. That performance was first class. That was an experienced player who knows the game against great opposition at the top of his game, 34 and three you'll take that."
Buckley said he is still invested in the club despite the speculation that continues to surround his job with a review into the club's football department ongoing.
The out-of-contract coach will remain at the helm until the end of the season, regardless of how the team fares in the last month, but his future remains clouded beyond that.
"The major determinant will be the information that the board are gaining from feedback internally and the rest is out of my control," Buckley said.
"I'm just passionate to coach this group of blokes as well as I possibly can and it's no different."
