COLLINGWOOD president Eddie McGuire considered quitting his high-profile role after the Magpies' lamentable 15-point loss to Carlton on Saturday.
McGuire was so dejected after the club's fourth loss in five games that he questioned whether his 18-year reign as Magpies president should come to an end.
Magpies v Blues: Full match coverage and stats
"You question yourself. You have done this for 18 years, can you go through it again?" McGuire said on Triple M on Monday.
"I question myself ... and you agonise and you are standing there and your family is around and you look across at people who are killing themselves, the players, the coaches, all those people, and you do, you go away, you drive away and you have a tear in your eye. Is it frustration - what do you do?
"Then my wife told me on Sunday morning … my two boys (Joseph and Alexander) had got home and one was going to see the Bulldogs (versus Adelaide) game on [Saturday night], they are mad on the footy, and the other, Xander, was going down to a mate's place. Mum said: 'C'mon, put some gear on', and both of them refused to take their (Collingwood) jumpers off.
"They said: 'No, this is the tough time', and they got me on Sunday and gave me the pointy pointy and said: 'We don't quit. This is it. We have to tough it out'.
"It was the best thing in my life I have ever had from them."
McGuire said he was "completely shattered" after the loss to the Blues and indicated coach Nathan Buckley would have to alter the club's game plan given the Magpies' missing personnel.
Along with an out-of-form Travis Cloke, the Magpies are missing Taylor Adams, Nathan Brown, Tom Langdon, Ben Sinclair, Travis Varcoe, Dane Swan, Tyson Goldsack, Marley Williams and Jamie Elliott from their first-choice lineup.
"Injuries have been there all the way through. Forget the injuries though, forget that, that's part and parcel. Every team has injuries. I am not hanging my hat on that," McGuire said.
"Whether or not our game plan is predicated on everyone being there, and having everyone going – that's not the case (because of the injuries).
"Forward line - the ball is not staying in. We haven't got Swan up there, we haven't got Jamie Elliott back - bad luck, it happens to everybody. (Travis) Varcoe falls over ... what we have to do is we have to play according to what we have got because we need to win.
"I suppose that is the balance between what the coaches might be trying to do as far as build a long-term plan that everyone adheres to and we get it right and there are probably some young players in there at the moment who can't execute that plan, or whether we have to adjust our cloth.
"That will be the topic of very strong discussions this week amongst the coaching group and we have to turn it around. We have Brisbane next week and it is a big game, obviously, for us."
The 2-5 Magpies will face the 1-6 Brisbane Lions in a must-win clash at the Gabba on Saturday night.
