Illness ran through Collingwood ahead of their AFL game against the Western Bulldogs but coach Craig McRae is refusing to make excuses for the defeat.
Dynamite forward Jack Ginnivan was ruled out of Friday night's match at Marvel Stadium and captain Scott Pendlebury also pulled out of the contest only hours before the first bounce.
It was also the third-straight week the Magpies fronted up after a six-day break following their Anzac Day triumph against Essendon in round six.
"I feel like you can play with a runny nose and still execute your role, that's what good teams do," McRae said.
"Does it hurt our preparation? Yeah, it does, and we have a lot of players who haven't trained.
"Maybe you can then argue the chemistry is not there from those things but I don't want to be a coach that puts those things out and say, 'we were a bit sick so there was lack of effort'.
"I go back to last week, our last quarter against Richmond, it was our best quarter but we were still sick.
"Our ability to win that battle, we're not there yet."
Magpies defender Jack Madgen looks set for a long stint on the sidelines after hurting his shoulder in the second quarter and was subbed out for Finlay Macrae.
"It looks like it's a subluxed shoulder, I don't know what that means in terms of missing," McRae said.
"I know (Nathan) Kreuger missed two or three weeks with something similar but it's a real shame for (Madgen)."
