Collingwood Magpies climb off the canvas with stunning win over Melbourne Demons at the MCG to keep top four finals hopes alive

“The adductor injury can be somewhat on the minor end at times,” McRae said.

“They tend to heal quickly, I think, but we won’t know until we get the scan.

“He may be a sneaky chance for the first final – I’m not sure.”

Collingwood climbed off the canvas to reel in a 15-point final quarter deficit to snatch back the lead and hang on for victory in gripping scenes. Four goals in succession – the final four goals of the game – from the 12-minute mark delivered the Magpies one of their gutsiest wins of the season.

It was a stark reminder of what McRae’s men had once become known for – snatching victory from the jaws of defeat.

When asked if the hard-fought, tooth-and-nail victory – their second by six points or less over the Demons this season – was the ideal way to prepare for the intensity of the finals, McRae simply said: “Yeah, I think so.”

Collingwood are on track for a likely qualifying final against the Crows in Adelaide, providing the Crows defeat North Melbourne to retain top spot and the Magpies finish fourth ahead of either Hawthorn or Brisbane Lions (who clash on Sunday).

“16 wins and a good percentage – I’m sure anyone in this room would be pretty happy with that at the start of the year,” McRae said.

“It’s a crazy year when [you record] 16 [wins] and you’re not sure where you’re gonna land.”

McRae and his players savoured their win in front of more than 60,000 fans – a result that, aside from Howe’s injury, was replete with positives, including Jordan De Goey playing a starring role and appearing “back to his beast mode”, according to the coach.

“We celebrated that … with our whole group,” McRae said.

De Goey was playing just his ninth game for the year and his fourth game since round nine. But the dynamic match-winner is raring to go for September.

“He’s a mile ahead of where I thought he would be at this time,” McRae said.

“I still thought he’d be playing sub, or subbed out.

“[He had] eight score involvements [tonight]. His clearance work is… back to his beast mode. He’s an important player for us. And yeah, historically, finals have been his time to shine.

“He’s probably one of the freshest players we have. [I’m] excited for what could be.”

Collingwood looked done and dusted in the early stages of the final quarter as the resurgent Demons surged to a telling lead after a Christian Petracca goal. At that point, the Pies had had only one major since half-time after squandering chance after chance in front of goal.

Loading

“I think credit to Melbourne. I thought they were outstanding, and … [when] Petracca and [Max] Gawn are playing really, really well, they they’re pretty hard team to beat,” McRae said.

“15 points down in the last quarter and then finding a way to win – that’s us just having that gear, or that mode of transport to get us moving.

“I thought we took some big steps last week in our defence [in the narrow loss to Adelaide]. I thought we took some growth in our offence. This week we scored 50 per cent of the time we went in.

“Some of them were wide. Some were long shots. We missed a lot of set shots, which kept the scoreboard alive for the opposition at times. But [there was] some growth [for us] in our offence and the growth in our defence last week.”

Loading

Howe has barely played since round 19 after he returned against Hawthorn two rounds ago but was subbed out early with concussion after copping a heavy knock.

The Magpies are rapt with the timing of the pre-finals bye, giving them and other contenders a chance to reset after a brutal home-and-away season.

“We’ve had a big run of playing the top teams week after week, which again, gives you feedback, and this has been a qualifying phase,” McRae said.

“We’ll reset ourselves. Wednesday we’ll relaunch to a new season. Because it is a new season.”