When Collingwood crapped out against Sydney in round 22, there was a sense of a run having come to an end. Yes, they had won 10 in a row by a cumulative margin of 79 points, but a post-to-post 27-point loss proved that the house always wins.
When Craig McRae responded by saying he “coached really poorly” by failing to properly account for the dimensions of the ground there was a whiff of herring. The SCG is, after all, only about two-and-a-bit metres shorter at either end and either wing. Instead, it felt like a deft stage magician’s trick.
