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Assistant coach Guy McKenna is certain the players will be ready to make amends for their loss to Brisbane against arch-rival Carlton this weekend.
The sixth-placed Magpies put in an uncharacteristically poor performance on Saturday night at the MCG, but because nearly the whole side was well below par, the solution is simple.
“When everyone’s down, it normally gets the fire in the belly going, which goes well for this week,” McKenna said on CTV’s The Weekend That Was at the Lexus Centre on Monday.
“They (the players) have really got to look at themselves and turn their performance around from last week, which is good from a coaching point of view, because (normally) in losses, when there are six or seven blokes that play well there’s always that consoling of the better players to the not-so-good players.
“Pretty much as a group we were all down in all areas, so that’s a good thing going into this week against Carlton.”
Apart from an early goal-of-the-year contender from Travis Cloke, not much went right for the Pies, who have taken pride in being competitive in every match in 2007 before Saturday night.
“I think Trav’s goal came at the 30 or 40 second mark of the first quarter, and I reckon from then on things didn’t look too good.
“We’ve normally fought our way through an early onslaught like that, but Brisbane weren’t going to let us do that, and their pressure around the ball was, by far, greater than ours.
“Our losses have been just losses, I suppose, because blokes have had a crack. That was the thing on the weekend, from a supporter’s point of view we didn’t have a crack.
“I’d like the think the boys were having a crack and there were some blokes who flew the flag to a degree, but overall it was pretty bad.”
One positive to take from the game was the performance of versatile young leader Nick Maxwell, who battled gallantly all night and finished with four goals.
“One thing Maxy brings to the table is his competitiveness, and regardless of the result, for 22 games of the year you know you’re going to get a crack from Nick Maxwell, so from a coaching point of view, he’s almost one of your first picked.
“If he’s going to go down, he’s going to go down with a fight.
“But he’s also got the quality and the class to win his position, too. Whether he’s playing a defensive role down back or similarly going forward and being a nuisance and really providing a foil for Trav Cloke and Anthony Rocca.”
Assistant coach Guy McKenna is certain the players will be ready to make amends for their loss to Brisbane against arch-rival Carlton this weekend.
The sixth-placed Magpies put in an uncharacteristically poor performance on Saturday night at the MCG, but because nearly the whole side was well below par, the solution is simple.
“When everyone’s down, it normally gets the fire in the belly going, which goes well for this week,” McKenna said on CTV’s The Weekend That Was at the Lexus Centre on Monday.
“They (the players) have really got to look at themselves and turn their performance around from last week, which is good from a coaching point of view, because (normally) in losses, when there are six or seven blokes that play well there’s always that consoling of the better players to the not-so-good players.
“Pretty much as a group we were all down in all areas, so that’s a good thing going into this week against Carlton.”
Apart from an early goal-of-the-year contender from Travis Cloke, not much went right for the Pies, who have taken pride in being competitive in every match in 2007 before Saturday night.
“I think Trav’s goal came at the 30 or 40 second mark of the first quarter, and I reckon from then on things didn’t look too good.
“We’ve normally fought our way through an early onslaught like that, but Brisbane weren’t going to let us do that, and their pressure around the ball was, by far, greater than ours.
“Our losses have been just losses, I suppose, because blokes have had a crack. That was the thing on the weekend, from a supporter’s point of view we didn’t have a crack.
“I’d like the think the boys were having a crack and there were some blokes who flew the flag to a degree, but overall it was pretty bad.”
One positive to take from the game was the performance of versatile young leader Nick Maxwell, who battled gallantly all night and finished with four goals.
“One thing Maxy brings to the table is his competitiveness, and regardless of the result, for 22 games of the year you know you’re going to get a crack from Nick Maxwell, so from a coaching point of view, he’s almost one of your first picked.
“If he’s going to go down, he’s going to go down with a fight.
“But he’s also got the quality and the class to win his position, too. Whether he’s playing a defensive role down back or similarly going forward and being a nuisance and really providing a foil for Trav Cloke and Anthony Rocca.”
