Craig McRae’s wife puts him in his place over Adam Kingsley incident

Collingwood coach Craig McRae revealed the five-word message from his wife that left him realising he had overstepped the mark.

Collingwood coach Craig McRae has revealed he was put in his place by his wife in the wake of his bench antics against GWS.

McRae was seen calling out towards the Giants bench on Sunday, in the direction of tagger Toby Beford, as he cupped his hands to his face to make his comments heard.

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Giants coach Adam Kingsley then got involved as he strolled towards his counterpart and waved his hand at him, gesturing for him to return to his bench.

The incident attracted attention from the AFL with McRae officially warned over his antics, but he was ultimately cleared of any sanction.

But it wasn’t the words from the AFL that put the Pies coach on the straight and narrow, it was five words from his partner that made him realise he had overstepped the mark.

Craig was put in his place by his wife, Gabrielle. (Photo by Asanka Ratnayake/AFL Photos/via Getty Images)

“I’m cheeky. I’ve got a great relationship with Kingers, so I have a bit of banter with Kingers,” McRae said.

“But then I realised really quickly (it was wrong), particularly when my wife tells me the next day, ‘You can’t do that Craig’.

“And I understand for the look of the game it’s not what we wanted, for the AFL or for young coaches aspiring to be more than that.

“I apologise for that. I don’t think it’s good for the game.

“My little girl plays for the Williamstown Under 10s, and if her coach was doing that to the other Under 10s, I would be going ‘C’mon mate, what are you doing?’

“I can be cheeky during the week, but I’ve got a responsibility for the game.”

McRae and Kingsley both shrugged off the incident post game before Melbourne skipper Max Gawn said the Collingwood premiership coach “has form” in this space.

Kingsley (left) and McRae after the siren. (Photo by Dylan Burns/AFL Photos via Getty Images)

Gawn linked back to when former Melbourne midfielder Alex Neal-Bullen was spoken to by McRae when tagging Magpies star Nick Daicos like Bedford was on Sunday.

McRae said he would always protect his playing group but “needs to be better”.

“I love to protect our players, but there’s a level there, isn’t there? The role model I want to be, I stand here with great values and morals and I want to represent us and our players really, really well,” he said.

“There will be a time in my life where I won’t be doing this, so I have got an opportunity for a broader reach.

“Laura (Kane) and I spoke about that. I said, ‘I know I stepped over but in the context it was just two mates with great respect for each other’, but again I understand my stance in the game needs to be better than that.

“I take responsibility for all my actions and it’s time to be a good role model.”

- with Tyler Lewis, Newswire

Originally published as Craig McRae’s wife puts him in his place over Adam Kingsley incident