“But maybe clearly it is because they don’t pay things that aren’t there. So looking forward to see what they say,” the Collingwood coach said.
“At that moment, I was confused because I was told that he [Nick Daicos] touched the umpire. I was unaware of what actually happened until afterwards.”
Fremantle coach Justin Longmuir felt it was a fair free kick to be paid.
“I’ve seen that paid before,” Longmuir said. “It’s time-wasting it, isn’t it? That’s why the umpire would have paid it.”
McRae doesn’t think the moment flustered his players.
“I just assume that he’s umpiring to the letter of the law,” McRae said. “I’d like to think it didn’t fluster us, let’s move on. Let’s go with what’s next because that’s all you can control.
“And if the umpires come out and say, ‘that was a mistake’, that doesn’t help us either. We’re just moving on. The reality is it’s probably a free kick and we move on.”
The Magpies had led by 25 points with just over seven minutes remaining before Fremantle stormed home with four quick goals in a night that took another heavy injury toll on Collingwood.
Mason Cox will miss next Friday night’s clash against the Western Bulldogs with concussion but will also need scans in coming days to assess the extent of a bruised knee, while Brody Mihocek faces another stint on the sideline with hamstring awareness – the same injury that kept him out for two weeks in the lead up to Friday night’s match.
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Collingwood entered the match missing matchwinner Jordan De Goey, Jamie Elliott, Will Hoskin-Elliott, Tom Mitchell and Jeremy Howe among others.
They will now enter Friday night’s clash against the Bulldogs at Marvel Stadium without Cox and Mihocek, while captain Scott Pendlebury is expected to overcome a bicep injury, suffered against Fremantle.
“I hurt it in the third quarter, then it was pretty much useless after that,” Pendlebury told Seven.
“I was just trying to make up the numbers out there. We didn’t have many rotations left.”
McRae said Howe (groin) was a chance to return against the Bulldogs.
With AAP
‘Cam would kick this’: Captain’s moving interview after dramatic draw
Fremantle captain Alex Pearce held back tears as he described thinking of his former teammate Cam McCarthy as he lined up for the goal that helped the Dockers pull off a remarkable draw with Collingwood on Friday night.
McCarthy, the former GWS and Fremantle player, died at the age of 29 earlier this month, leaving his friends and former teammates shattered.
Pearce and Nat Fyfe were close to tears during a tribute to McCarthy just moments before they had to play a match against Sydney on the night after his death.
The Dockers came from the clouds to haul in a four-goal deficit at Optus Stadium on Friday night, and it was the captain and brave defender Pearce who closed the margin to a point with a late set shot goal, pointing to the sky after he slotted it.
Alex Pearce points to the sky after kicking the clutch goal against the Magpies.Credit: Getty Images
“It’s been tough. A couple of weeks ago it was a really hard game to get through,” Pearce told Seven’s Abbey Holmes in an emotional post-match interview.
“I was nervous going back. My hands were a little bit shaky. I did think, I was like, Cam would kick this. So I was happy to … Yeah, it was for him.”
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Holmes and Pearce embraced at the end of the interview.
McCarthy, who played 49 games and kicked 63 goals over four seasons with the club, was found at a home in Perth and his death was not treated as suspicious.
It was the third draw of the season, but felt like a win for the Dockers. It was also a special moment for Pearce, an Indigenous man from Tasmania, leading Walyalup (Fremantle) in the Sir Doug Nicholls Round.
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