Collingwood coach Craig McRae was left amazed by some of his side’s mistakes during last week’s loss to the GWS Giants.
The reigning premiers fell to a surprising 32-point defeat as they struggled to contain the Giants’ potent attack.
It was an uncharacteristic performance by the Magpies as they slumped to one of the worst defeats since McRae took charge.
Stream analysis, local footy and the biggest moments free on 7plus
When reviewing the defeat, the Pies coach said they made too many simple errors, including manning the mark.
“We went through a tape and really concentrated on the things we can control,” McRae said on Wednesday.
“There’s a lot within our four walls, we thought we could do a lot better.
“It’s amazing the little things that we just didn’t get right. Simple things, so simple, that we’ve just gotta get back to and have great pride in those little things.”
When asked to elaborate, McRae said: “Well you’d be amazed — we didn’t even man the mark. Can you believe that?
“People having set shots which means that those two (examples) in particular, they resulted in goals.
“It doesn’t take much in this game to give someone a little bit of a chance. So some of those little things are as simple as manning the mark.
“So we will get back to work on our fundamentals and in a couple of days’ time hopefully we’ll see all those things.”
Collingwood will welcome back veteran defender Jeremy Howe for Friday night’s clash against Sydney.
Howe missed the Opening Round loss to GWS with a calf injury but trained well in Wednesday’s main session and appears set to return.
“We are confident he got through,” McRae said.
“It looks like we’re going to select him.
“We haven’t done that yet but probably more than likely we will select him then see how he pulls up tomorrow.”
McRae also indicated midfielder Fin Macrae had forced his way into the side.
The Magpies were also buoyed by Nathan Murphy’s return to some contact training on Wednesday.
There is still no timeline on the defender’s playing return after he was concussed in the grand final.
“It was really pleasing. Murph did his first contact work for this year,” McRae said.
“He’s in a program that will see him, five, six weeks, whatever it takes, to progress back to play.
“But it’s a week-by-week and it’s a session-by-session thing.”
– With AAP