Craig McRae talks of happiness more than football. He talks excitedly of smiles on faces more than footballs in hand. But he concludes one begets the other: happy players make better players.
He has a Ted Lasso-like unrelentingly positivity to him. At any moment you feel he could call his assistants for an urgent meeting of the Diamond Dogs. Arooo!
You can’t quite see McRae bursting into new CEO Craig Kelly’s office with freshly baked biscuits, but he does have a retro tabletop arcade game machine in his own office. He embraces a Lasso-like “fun first” philosophy.
Craig McRae is a believer. Credit: Eddie Jim, The Age
McRae’s face reddens at the mention of Ted Lasso. “My wife thinks I am [the Ted Lasso of the AFL],” he says.
Reflecting on last year’s one point preliminary final loss to Sydney - which he has not yet re-watched- and the critical moments, including the game-deciding free kick not paid against Tom Papley, he’s as philosophical as Ted.
“It was a tight game wasn’t it? I don’t really know what to say other than Jack Crisp was amazing in the last two minutes I watched. I don’t want to live in the what-ifs. I don’t do that, I haven’t sat in that space. I wish I was six foot four. I’m not, so you just move on,” he said.
Ted Lasso and Coach BeardCredit: Apple TV
Or as Ted would say: “You know what the happiest animal in the world is? A goldfish. Y’know why? It’s got a 10-second memory. Be a goldfish.”
The image of Collingwood players slumped on the SCG turf was a brutal end to an exhilarating season, during which the Magpies rose from 17th the previous year to third, but there’s been plenty happening since.
Jack Ginnivan’s illicit drug ban
McRae took a parental view when Ginnivan was suspended for the first two matches of the season after admitting to using drugs in a hotel toilet over summer.
“I don’t want to talk to the detail of it other than what I told the players: I don’t have a son, we have two beautiful daughters, but I see all these young men as my sons and I treat them like they are,” he said.
“If you have a son or daughter, there’s an element of if they make mistakes there’s a lot of stuff you don’t condone, and a lot of stuff that you want to hold them to account to as a parent, and I’ll do the same in this leadership management role.
“But then there’s that element of, OK then, there has to be a level of love and support. And so, that’s the angle we take with Jack or any one of our players. I think this goes a bit deeper than just getting kicks, marks and handballs.”
Collingwood recruit Dan McStayCredit: Getty
The recruitment of Dan McStay from Brisbane
It’s early pre-season. A ball is kicked long into Collingwood’s forward line. Dan McStay runs to the ball, looks around and hesitates.
McRae calls out: “Dan that’s your ball”. McStay looks up at him. “Oh, I ...” “No Dan that’s YOUR ball.”
It was a penny drop moment for McStay: he was no longer the third wheel to Lions forwards Joe Daniher and Eric Hipwood. It illustrated what McRae says should make McStay a better player at the Magpies. “We’ve got optimism he will,” he said. “You can go through targets inside-50 and he’s not going to get as much as Daniher and Hipwood. But he will for us. So we’re going to go through him a lot more and he’s going to get more opportunities.
“What potentially others hadn’t seen in Dan is that we will move the ball differently to Brisbane, which allows him to show a lot more of his strengths and cover the ground which is something we’re excited for.”
The Magpies’ headline trade act
It isn’t an off-season at Collingwood without turmoil and heartburn with the playing list.
This time, Brodie Grundy was traded, Ollie Henry was homesick for Geelong and a Brownlow Medallist in Tom Mitchell walked in the door, jettisoned while in contract by his Hawks.
“What’s maybe been missed in all the recruiting talk in you know ‘Collingwood finished third now they think they’re in the window - whatever being in a window means anyway – but they’re gonna get these four or five players and then they’re going to go to win it’,” McRae said.
“These decisions were being made well before we won many games. If anything halfway through the year, we were pretty confident that all the guys were going to come other than Tom Mitchell.
“I think that the new additions are exciting. I think if we had those four or five players come finals time last year, I think it would have been pretty exciting too.”
McRae didn’t want Ollie Henry to leave but understood why he did. “Who knows, we might get him back!?” he said.
Grundy’s exit ‘the best thing for Collingwood’
The arrival of McStay occurred in the same off-season as Brodie Grundy’s departure, but that was the only connection. McRae was eager to stress that one deal was not contingent on the other.
Brodie Grundy has now joined Max Gawn at Melbourne.Credit: AFL Photos
“I want to go on record saying that there’s been some misguidance around Brodie having to leave to fit Dan McStay in. It’s just not true,” he said.
McRae was an assistant coach at Collingwood when Grundy was drafted. He worked with him in development roles for his first five years so the pair had a strong relationship.
“We were talking for an hour about what that could look like and then the reality is I think it’s the best thing for the Collingwood Football Club that he does move on. That was where we got to, but it was through a heavy heart and a compromise because I really care about you Brodie but bottom line we make decisions for what we think is best for the football club and we made that one at that time.”
Why the Magpies targeted Mitchell
Collingwood were around the bottom for clearance stats but about the best in the league for intercept marking and possessions last season. So what they did poorly helped them become what they were elite at - winning the ball back.
But McRae knows it is not sustainable to keep conceding so much ground.
They targeted Tom Mitchell to address their glaring weakness, which was the Brownlow medallist’s greatest strength.
“We got better towards the end of the year [on clearances] but we can’t lose that much territory from clearances as we did. I don’t think we’re ever going to be the best clearance team, I am not sure we need to be in terms of our game style,” McRae said.
“The last game against Hawthorn you can see what Tom was going to do for guys like Jordy De Goey and Nick Daicos because he’s going to get that first possession which was what we thought he could do for us.”
Where Nick Daicos will play?
Will Mitchell’s arrival coincide with Nick Daicos playing more regularly on the ball?
“Last year when we needed to win the game we just put Nick where we needed an impact most. I don’t think that’s changing, but he’s done a lot of stuff in the midfield, he has put on some body size. He looks more adept to play more midfield this year. So I think you’ll see more, more of that.
“The biggest thing in the early part of the year I’m conscious of with Nick is his decision-making and ability to get the ball out of defence. It’s a weapon. Most teams have one of those players so for me, it’s difficult to replace that. So if he goes out who’s going to be that guy that’s going to make those amazing decision-making kicks to get us out of D 50. Which is a critical part of the game. It means Pendles will spend some time there.”
Darcy Moore as captain
McRae meets monthly on Zoom with a group of coaches and managers from other sports.
The group includes Western United coach and former Socceroo John Aloisi, Australian men’s cricket coach Andrew McDonald, Manly NRL coach Anthony Seibold and Mike Dunlop, an assistant at the Milwaukee Bucks.
They met before Christmas and the question of leadership change came up. McRae told the group Scott Pendlebury was going to step down as captain.
“Andrew McDonald had just done that with Pat Cummins coming in as captain and I asked him his advice about it and he gave some great advice to take players on the journey for the decision-making. Don’t just come with an outcome take people on the journey for the process,” McRae said.
It changed the way McRae approached it, talking to a much wider group of players.
“So now when the outcome’s done, there’s not a ripple effect of all these other things that may potentially have come of that. It seems like Darcy’s been captain for years.
Why Bobby Hill will light up the Magpies
“Bobby’s going to light it up. He will. He will have moments where people go ‘wow’, and he’s done it already in a couple of practice games,” McRae said of the small forward traded in from the Giants.
“He looks so happy. And I’m not here to speak about his past but he’s fitting into our environment really well and I’m excited for what he can deliver.
“I’m certain though, that whatever he does this year it’ll be even better the year after or something in the coming years.”
McRae’s MCG March madness
It’s early March at the MCG. The stands are full and it’s heaving. Ed Sheeran is singing.
Craig McRae is in his seat with his wife, singing along with .... a rug over his knees.
Ed Sheeran performs at the MCG on March 2.Credit: Rick Clifford
“I feel the cold,” he laughed. “I saw others around me with a rug and I thought ‘that’s a good idea’. And Darcy [Moore] is on the seat behind me on the 45. I turn around and he’s taking photos of me. I said ‘what are you doing? and he goes ’You’ve got a rug on you, what are you, 80?
“But I did have a sneaky bourbon under the blanket and I didn’t want the captain to see I was having a quiet drink.”
Ted Lasso would approve.