And the Magpies took that opportunity,dominating in the aerial contests at both ends of the ground.
Darcy Moore and Charlie Curnow had a tough battle,despite Curnow finishing with four goals,and Jeremy Howe and Nathan Murphy took 12 marks between them,while at the other end the Magpies took 18 marks inside their forward 50,led by Ollie Henry (three goals) and Mason Cox (one goal).
McRae said he had never given up hope on the often-maligned American Cox,who took six marks – four of them contested.
“Mason’s a talking point,isn’t he,and I must admit I’ve always been a believer in players,and believe in them for as long as you can,” the first-year coach said.
“I believe in Mason,and today he got to show what he is capable of. I haven’t really seen him play at that level for a while,so it was really pleasing he did his job for the team.”
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But McRae said Cox wasn’t a certain starter after injuring his finger in the win over Fremantle.
“He had some stitches in it,and it was quite sore and red post-game,so it was a matter that he couldn’t sweat in case he got an infection,so we had to wait for that to heal a little bit,so he could train on Friday,” McRae said.
McRae said he won’t put a cap on what the Magpies can achieve this year after back-to-back wins against top-eight sides to reignite their season,joking after Fremantle’s win over Melbourne that the Magpies were capable of beating the reigning premiers.
“We’re starting to find out maybe our best is really capable,” he said.
“Over the past two weeks we’ve played two[very good] teams. I said to the players,‘We beat Freo,they beat Melbourne,we can beat them now.’
“We know it doesn’t work that way,but we’ve always said from day one we want to act like winners and have winning behaviours in everything we do. We’re going to continue to strive to be that team.”
But McRae said his Magpies were far from the finished project.
“We’re trying to form our DNA,and we revisited it after the Western Bulldogs game because we got smashed around the contest,” he said.
“We want to be a territory team. I think we got nutted in the inside-50s just today,that’s something we pride ourselves on.
“It’s a pretty basic game plan really. If you watch us,we’re just a work-in-progress in what we’re trying to get better and better to do.”
McRae and Voss,triple-premiership teammates at the Lions during the 2001-2003 three-peat,joked that Voss owed him dinner after the Magpies’ win.