Magpies remain optimistic as AFL finals race heats up

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Magpies remain optimistic as AFL finals race heats up

Collingwood are refusing to give up on their AFL premiership defence, with ruck-forward Mason Cox insisting the Magpies can still shake up an intense finals race.

Chasing back-to-back flags for the first time since 1935-36, Collingwood snapped a four-match losing streak and kept their hopes alive with a 26-point win over Richmond on Sunday.

But the task just to lock in a top-eight position over the final month of the home-and-away season is an enormous one.

Craig McRae’s side sit 12th, one win and a significant percentage gap behind the eighth-placed Western Bulldogs.

The Pies face top-four opponents Carlton, Sydney (away) and the Brisbane Lions before a last-round contest with Melbourne.

Based on current ladder positions, it is the toughest run home of any side left in the finals race.

“As long as it’s statistically possible, we’ll definitely give it a fair ******,” Cox told AAP.

“If we just keep doing (what we did against Richmond), we’ll be right. It’s as simple as that.

“We’ll take it one game at a time and it’s such a cliche thing to say, but that’s our mentality now.

“We play Carlton at the MCG and that’s going to be our focus.”

Cox felt Collingwood “got back to our DNA” in lifting their pressure and work rate against Richmond, adding those are prerequisite attributes if the Magpies are to gatecrash the top eight.

Third-year coach McRae’s upbeat

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has also kept his players’ heads up during a tough stretch of the season.

“We preach positivity and it was good to have quite a bit of that this week,” Cox said.

“That leads to us having a good time out there and when we’re playing well we’re having a smile on our face and really enjoying ourselves.”

Runners-up to Collingwood last year, Brisbane are the hottest team in the competition on the back of eight straight wins.

The Lions have joined Sydney as ****** premiership favourites, with the previously-dominant Swans stumbling to four losses in their past five games.

Carlton (three losses in four) have also suffered recent setbacks, letting slip their top-two position, while Fremantle have climbed to third.

GWS, Geelong, Port Adelaide and the Bulldogs are all right in the mix, while out-of-form Essendon and Melbourne are still alive.

But the ******** face the second-hardest fixture over the remaining four rounds, as they seek to end a 20-year finals win drought.

Hawthorn, sitting ninth on percentage, loom as the September wildcard.

The Hawks have won eight of their past nine games, and have clashes against bottom-two sides Richmond and North Melbourne in the run home.

“There’s part of us that’s happy with how we’re playing and things are going well, but we’re still ninth, so we’re still out of the eight,” Hawthorn coach Sam Mitchell said after Sunday’s win over Adelaide.

“We’re still not where we want to be.

“We go to Canberra to play GWS, and they had a fantastic win (over Melbourne), and they’re a side that bring an enormous work rate.

“We know there’s no week off for us. We’re ninth. We have to keep going.”

Gold Coast’s chances of a maiden finals campaign are hanging by a thread, with the Suns two wins and percentage out of the top eight.

But Damien Hardwick’s side have the easiest run home of any contender, facing four sides that sit outside the top eight, including lowly West Coast and Richmond.

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