Veteran Collingwood defender Jeremy Howe has been cleared of further injury after suffering a nasty collision in the Magpies' thumping defeat to Hawthorn.
The Magpies registered the lowest score and second-heaviest loss of Craig McRae's four-year coaching tenure in the 17.8 (110) to 6.10 (46) thumping at the MCG on Thursday night.
It was Collingwood's fourth loss from their past five outings, putting their top-four hopes in jeopardy.
Making matters worse, they lost key Howe to concussion after a sickening collision with Hawks midfielder Jai Newcombe.
Howe will miss at least next week's clash with ladder-leaders Adelaide as he goes into the 12-day concussion protocols.
The 35-year-old was taken from the MCG to be assessed in hospital, but released after several hours of tests and scans.
"In positive news, subsequent scans over night have cleared him of any further injury," Collingwood football boss Charlie Gardiner said. "Jeremy has since returned home and is recovering well.
'He will work through the concussion protocols with the support of our medical team."
But McRae could not explain the horror showing and expressed disappointment that the Pies' worst display of the year came as club great Steele Sidebottom marked his 350-game milestone.
"I apologise to our Magpie Army. That's a disappointing performance, you can't sugar-coat that," McRae said.
"We owe Steele Sidebottom way more than that too. He's a legend of the footy club.
"We're hurting. That one really hurt.
"It was just a lack of system and then a lack of fight and lack of effort, sometimes at the same time, which leaves us really vulnerable."
Howe was knocked out in the collision with Newcombe less than two minutes into the match and had to be taken off the ground on a stretcher.
"It rocked us, it did, it was right in front of us (on the bench). It rocked us and it rocked some of our staff," McRae said.
"But I don't want to make excuses.
"We hope he's okay and hope his family's okay too. Those things aren't great when you're watching live."
Collingwood sat on top of the ladder for 11 consecutive weeks but could now slip as low as fourth by the end of the round.
They travel to face the Crows at the Adelaide Oval, before meeting Melbourne to round out the home-and-away campaign.
Collingwood's last win against current top-nine team came back in May when they defeated the Hawks.
"Judge us on our response. It'll create a headline but bring it on," McRae said.
"We've got to turn up, not just because we're going to Adelaide and who we're playing, it's just because that's what we want to do.
"We want to be a team that turns up every week."
