Mark Robinson on Craig McRae’s influence over Collingwood in season 2022

Craig McRae is winning – not just the four points, but the hearts and minds of his players. Mark Robinson looks at why the connection has happened so quickly.

Not sure it’s the elephant in the room, but let’s ask it anyway.

Why has Craig McRae got his Collingwood team playing with such freedom and spirit when Nathan Buckley, in his final years as coach, played boring, dour football?

What mindset does McRae possess that Buckley did not?

Buckley wasn’t always so boring as a coach and certainly wasn’t as a player.

His Hall of Fame playing career was acclaimed for his ability to see possibilities when others could not. And that’s a quality of the all-time greats.

And as coach, in 2018 and 2019, Buckley’s teams played with tremendous dare and risk.

But something changed. Buckley’s teams became defensively controlled in 2020 and 2021, they became almost unwatchable, to the point where the club said goodbye to their favourite son.

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It’s uncanny, but just last week on SEN, Buckley reflected on his coaching through 2014 and 2015. Titled, If I Had My Time Again, Buckley said: “I think the better teams and better clubs and better environments keep finding ways to find the positivity in what they’re doing.’’

Buckley’s point was that “when we weren’t performing at our best, my vent was to say, ‘Hey, we’re not doing this, this and this, that we were doing in the first half of the year’.”

It would be informative if Buckley addressed what he’d do differently in 2020 and 2021, if he had his time again.

Collingwood parted ways with Nathan Buckley last year. Picture: James Elsby/AFL Photos.

At his first fist at being a senior coach, McRae is winning.

Not just the four points, but the hearts and minds of his players, which every coach says doesn’t have an exact science to it.

What is the art of coaching?

Is it about actual football or is it about actual people management?

If we asked all 18 current coaches and 50 of the most recent coaches, they’d probably all answer the same way, but with their own bent.

Connection is the buzzword of the past decade, but what is that?

And why has McRae got it and why didn’t Buckley have it in abundance in his final years?

The playing list is largely the same. Nick Daicos and Pat Lipinski are new, Jack Ginnivan played a few games last year but none under Buckley, the back six are the same, there’s been no Brodie Grundy for most of this year, some players have improved (Cameron, Quaynor for example) and the veterans are rejuvenated (Sidebottom, Hoskin-Elliott, Cox, for example), and there’s another smattering of kids starting out.

Craig McRae has made a brilliant start to his coaching career with the Pies sitting inside the top four. Picture: Quinn Rooney/Getty Images

The playing style of Buckley’s team last year and McRae’s team this year is the most obvious change, and that evidently has sparked a mindset shift in the players.

Look at the defence. When Darcy Moore, Brayden Maynard, Quaynor, Daicos, Jeremy Howe and John Noble have the ball, they often pin the ears and run. That creates all sorts of movement and excitement.

As Mark Maclure noted on Monday. “No one enjoys kicking sideways and backwards, it’s not fun,’’ he said. “Testing yourself is one of the fun things to do. You can fail, you can learn, and you can see improvement.

“I love what they’re doing. I see confidence. It’s funny because all these kids come out of the draft, but the kids at Collingwood see a positive coach, a positive influence.’’

Look at the graphic below.

Mark-play on = fun.

Kick forward = fun.

Corridor use = fun.

Buckley’s footprint can be seen defensively, and that can never be taken away, and McRae has added a wow factor.

What did the coaching subcommittee, which included key director Peter Murphy who was one of the architects of change at Collingwood, see in McRae?

Murphy, by the way, was sitting next to Peter Daicos when Josh Daicos snaked the boundary line and kicked the goal in the first quarter on Sunday, which sent the faithful into a frenzy.

Murphy was there when Eddie McGuire and Buckley ran the club and those two powerful figures were the club in a sense, because they were walking headlines.

Now, the footy world is raving about Collingwood’s footy and not raging against McGuire and Buckley, as it was towards the end of their involvement at the club.

McGuire and Buckley were enormous for Collingwood, but in the end, change was needed. And they know that.

After Buckley’s departure, the Pies wanted a teacher, and Murphy et al, saw that in McRae.

There’s a warmth about McRae, a fun factor. He’s laid back and personable and, as he says, he just wants to enjoy the ride.

Jack Ginnivan is one player who has improved in season 2022. Picture: Michael Willson/AFL Photos

Whereas Buckley the player headed off to battle every weekend and did it with gusto and honour for a decade and half in the midfield trenches, McRae was a crafty and nippy small forward who sharked packs, kicked goals, and won flags.

He is blessed, seemingly a bloke who gets out on the right side of the bed every bloody day.

Also, there’s a down-to-earth disposition about him – which was noted in his coaching interview – which encourages down to earth football. Like, fast and instinctive and aggressive footy. It’s old school as we’re coming out of the defensive strangulation of the sport. Like Geelong under Bomber Thompson in 2007.

Of course, the narrow wins can’t possibly continue, but while they are, we should rejoice in them.

Because McRae has brought his version of fun, care and hard work to Collingwood, and footy is much better for it.

“It’s called a wealth of warmth,’’ Maclure said. “And when they play, they don’t go around the back door to get through the front door, they charge straight at the opposition, and that’s refreshing.’’

Originally published as Mark Robinson on Craig McRae’s influence over Collingwood in season 2022