COLLINGWOOD coach Craig McRae expressed his pride in the aftermath of Friday night's wildcard final loss to the Western Bulldogs and doesn't want Tim Membrey to feel any responsibility after his shot after the siren sailed right.
The Magpies' season ended in heartbreaking circumstances at the MCG after they almost pinched a dramatic win by kicking seven of the final 11 goals in front of 81,036 people.
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Membrey calmly slotted a go-ahead goal 26 minutes into the fourth quarter before Western Bulldogs small forward Arty Jones kicked his fourth goal two minutes later.
The Bulldogs had control of the ball late before a Sam Davidson long range behind gave the ball back to Isaac Quaynor with 53 seconds left. Dan McStay took a contested grab on the wing, quickly handed off to Jack Crisp who found Membrey just inside 50 with 33 seconds left. The kick started right and ended right.
McRae made it clear to Membrey inside Collingwood's rooms that they wouldn't have been in the position to win the game if he didn't convert minutes earlier.
"I just said in front of everyone and privately that we're not in that position without the big mark and big goal a minute before or whatever it was a couple of minutes," McRae told reporters in his post-game press conference.
"It was a really see-saw game, and then even beyond that, like the year he's had to support our young forward line and be a pillar in that forward line, it's more than just tonight.
"So I just said to him, 'Don't carry it'. It's hard not to; I can't imagine what that would be like, but he doesn't need to carry the weight of that. That's not all his."
Veteran midfielder Scott Pendlebury didn't play on Friday night due to a hamstring strain and might have played his final game in black and white, with a decision still to come on where he plays in 2027, if at all.
"Well that's going to take its own course now that the management was saying that they'll speak to it at the end of the season and here we are, so I assume that'll happen reasonably quickly," McRae said.
"It's not my department, but I'll have many conversations with 'Pendles' throughout that time. I won't project or add opinions of things until they're factual, I'll just give it a bit of space on that. I've made many comments in the last couple of weeks around 'Pendles' and how much we love him. I'll just leave it at that for now."
Pendlebury is being courted by Gold Coast and other rival clubs to continue his 442-game career elsewhere next year.
McRae said the Magpies missed their leaders on Friday night with captain Darcy Moore, vice-captain Brayden Maynard, veteran Jamie Elliott and Harry Perryman all sidelined due to injury.
He expects the club to attack the trade period and free agency aggressively after creating some room in the salary cap in recent times.
"I think those that sit on the outside would judge our list heavily, but we had most of our leaders out tonight. So we've got players in our building that make us better already; there's a level of comfort in that that we've got Perryman, Maynard, Darcy Moore, Jamie Elliott to name a few that didn't even play. Everyone would love your best team, but you don't get that," McRae said.
"I think we're just in the business of getting better and at what level? I'm not sure, but we'll be pushing hard. We put ourselves in a position to have a salary cap for the first time that's got a healthy bank balance for want of a better term. We're in the business of improving ourselves. So now the season's finished, we’ll probably get a bit deeper into those things."