IT WAS a tough day for the Blues as they faced an in-form Pies outfit at the MCG. 

While Carlton struggled for most of the day, it was able to bring the margin back to single digits late in the final term, falling painfully short of victory. 

Staying strong throughout the game was a focus for the Blues, with midfielder Adam Cerra conceding that the team did fight, but ultimately not for long enough. 

“It was a big game, it definitely does hurt when things don’t go your way but we were able to fight it out,” Cerra said.  

“The fight from the boys to stay involved in that game and take it right to the end [was good], but ultimately we weren’t playing our style for long enough.” 

The midfield battle was relatively even for the two sides, with Carlton narrowly taking the better of the clearances, but Collingwood doing the damage when getting the ball inside 50 (51 per cent of entries resulted in scores). 

Cerra identified Carlton's own forward-50 entries as one of the low points in the team's game, noting the strong presence the Collingwood defenders had in their forward half. 

“We want to be composed on entry,” he said. 

“I think Darcy Moore played really well, Jeremy Howe is always looking to roll off. 

“There’s other targets [besides Charlie Curnow], like 'SOS' [Jack Silvagni], or our stooges – our small forwards, we look for them as well and let them get to work.”

With the loss of Jacob Weitering early in the game, Cerra is adamant that the group can maintain the ‘next-man-up’ approach that the side has been developing over the first half of the season. 

“People have been going down all season for us and it’s just next man up, keep fighting and playing our way so it’s almost become a trademark for us,” he said. 

“We just have to keep doing what we do and we had some other guys play taller, but it definitely hurts to lose one of our best players.” 

On Jack Silvagni, who has stepped up in the absence of ruckman Marc Pittonet, Cerra was full of praise for the undersized ruck noting his effort and determination cannot be denied. 

"'SOS' plays with his heart on his sleeve, so we know he’s going to compete," he said.

"He actually goes pretty well against the full-time rucks, so for us we see it as an extra full-time midfielder on the ground.

"All we ask for him is to compete and when the ball gets to the ground, we’ll get after it and he definitely doesn’t take a step back.

"We don’t try and get more defensive, we always try and stay proactive in [the middle]."