EVERYONE involved in Collingwood in 2018 is a better person than they were at the start of the year, says Pies president Eddie McGuire, who also declared the club has built a "great springboard" to go to another level in 2019.
McGuire said the Magpies "lived their ethos" this year as they found a way to be more engaging with their staff members and the community, after some had grown "disassociated" with the club.
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"Are we better people than we were than at the start of the year? Emphatically yes," a hoarse McGuire said after the Pies' five-point Grand Final loss to West Coast.
"I think everyone in our organisation is a better person as of today than what we were at the start of the year."
"That's everybody. I've learned so much from our players this year, I've learned so much from our coaching staff, there's been a great camaraderie there so there's a wonderful foundation to build from.
I'm just so proud of our club.
The Magpies have been through a well-known review process that saw a number of roles changed, appointments made and contracts not renewed.
The outcome saw personalities change, bonds strengthened and trust extended between members of the football department, particularly when it came to coach Nathan Buckley and his deputies, and then onto the players.
McGuire said the confronting review had set the club up to overcome the sting of Saturday's defeat and grow even more from what they had achieved in 2018.
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"People through the organisation, people in our staff … a lot of people had to dig deep within themselves throughout the course of last year, it was a really hard year last year because we really went hard on ourselves," he said.
"We beat ourselves up last year to really strip ourselves bare so we could rebuild our club.
"We drove it right down to the bare bones so we could start and hopefully be a club for the community and a club built on integrity.
"The way the players played today and the coach's performance, not only this year but through the time he's been at the club, gives us that opportunity."
There were many brave stories surrounding Collingwood's charge to the Grand Final, including Travis Varcoe playing in honour of his late sister Maggie, Jeremy Howe overcoming a badly injured ankle and recently corked thigh, and Adam Treloar and Tyson Goldsack fighting back from complaints usually dubbed as season ending.
It enabled the football world, as McGuire said, to see the Magpies as something other than the "traditional, clichéd hated side".
The Pies' president also said they wouldn't take any "bitterness or wallowing" away from the game, with the Eagles a deserving winner.
"We're disappointed we didn't win but we're extremely proud of what we've done and we have a great springboard to launch from into the future so we take the positives from it and we walk away," he said.
"I've bought in to what Nathan Buckley and the boys have brought to the table this year and that is to concentrate on the 95 per cent and not the five percent.
"As it turned out, we were in front for 95 per cent of the game and not the five per cent.
"The bottom line is, we're behind for eternity from here.
"They win, they get the rewards, so what we do is we pick up the pieces of what we have this year and we go forward again.
"I hope that people today were proud we played in the manner we did."
