While Travis Cloke and Anthony Rocca were quiet in the Magpies’ win, there was a more than handy support cast that won the game.
Collingwood had 12 individual goal kickers in their nine-point win
“They’ve got a lot of dangerous forwards and it is tricky not to let them out the back. That was the focus going into the game because they’ll make you pay,” Fisher said.
“A couple of times early in the first half we did let them out the back and they hurt us on the scoreboard.”
Fisher was one of his side’s best players, finishing with 30 touches from half-back. With fellow backman Matt Maguire now ruled out for the season, the onus is on Fisher to mind a key forward as well as provide the run from the back half.
But he says he feels no extra burden in Maguire’s absence.
“Goose (Maguire) has been out for a while. I don’t feel any more pressure, it just gives another blokes an opportunity to step up and Sean Dempster’s come in and done a fantastic job,” Fisher said.
Despite Max Hudghton’s sterling efforts at full-back, Fisher says the side needs more consistency from its other defenders.
“You wouldn’t know Maxy’s getting older, he’s been fantastic all year and I don’t think he’s been beaten,” he said.
“We can’t leave it all to Maxy – all us younger boys have to step up and take the load.”
Though the Saints were fifth on the ladder going in to Friday night’s game, Fisher says media criticism has been warranted.
“We’ve been fairly up and down this year. We haven’t played our best football and rightly so there is always a bit of expectation for St Kilda to be right up there,” he said.
“We’ll train hard this week and hopefully some good form is just around the corner.
“We couldn’t question our effort again. Our effort was there. We ran hard, we were right in the game til the end. We didn’t take our opportunities up forward. There were a few missed goals and a few errors.”
