Collingwood coach Craig McRae’s Q&A with Mick McGuane and Glenn McFarlane
Jordan De Goey was almost a non-factor in the Magpies’ premiership defence in 2024. In an exclusive interview, coach Craig McRae reveals how the Pies have him back to his best.
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Collingwood coach Craig McRae has sat down for an exclusive interview with Herald Sun footy analyst Mick McGuane and reporter Glenn McFarlane.
There are plenty of topics discussed including Brayden Maynard’s future, list management and what’s next for Scott Pendlebury.
Check out the full transcript below.
GLENN McFARLANE: Craig, thanks for the chat. It doesn’t get much bigger than the Peter Mac Cup between Collingwood and Carlton.
CRAIG McRAE: We had the (Peter Mac) breakfast (on Monday) and listening to Anthony Rocca go through his struggles (with Non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma), it makes everything real. We lost Dale Tapping (to Myeloma). It’s funny how Pebs (Rocca) gets told how he is in remission a day after Tapps’ passing … the irony of all that. I say often we fight for ground balls, people are fighting for life. That gives me a lot of perspective of what we do and how lucky we are to be doing what we do. Then you attach that to this incredible rivalry and it is a pretty special day.
DC V TDK
MICK McGUANE: Darcy Cameron is a bit underestimated, how important has he been?
CM: You make business decisions to move Brodie Grundy on, and it opens the roof to let Darcy Cameron grow. We believe in Darcy, and I think he believes in himself more than ever. He is such an infectious character, every locker room has one. He makes everyone smile. He has really sticky hands. Right now he is playing as good as he has ever played.
The game-sealing mark from Darcy Cameron 💪#AFLDogsPiespic.twitter.com/eWlIZb17mV
— 7AFL (@7AFL) March 21, 2025
MM: That ruck battle will be big, given Tom De Koning’s form?
CM: They are different players. De Koning’s contest to contest stuff and energy around the ball is great. He is an elite midfielder.
MM: It could be a potential threat to overcome if he is pushing forward?
CM: No doubt. Hopefully we will have a few (threats) of our own.
‘MY HEART SAYS YES … BUT BRUZZY HAS A DECISION TO MAKE’
GM: How hard will you fight to keep Brayden Maynard?
CM: We’re not in a hurry to get rid of Bruz. Ultimately, free agency is there for a reason, it allows the players to explore options. Bruzzy is much loved. I tell him daily.
GM: Do you sit down and say ‘here’s what we can do for you’?
CM: I am not in the role to forecast that. We have list management and Justin (Leppitsch) is driving that. But I assure him every day, ‘Bruzzy, you know how much we love you’. He has a big decision to make and that’s what free agency offers.
GM: Are you comfortable with North Melbourne publicly expressing their interest in him?
CM: Yep. This is the game. We want to be active in this market and if we are going to be active, you have to expect it to come the other way.
MM: Are you confident you will keep Brayden?
CM: My heart says yes, but we are living in a business world. I don’t think they are in a hurry to make a decision.
GM: You said last year you would prefer players over picks? Does that still stand?
CM: There is some context around that. I think you know me well enough that I’m a growth mindset guy. If you ever think I am fixed on one thing, you know that’s not real. At that time, we wanted players over picks for players who we were in negotiations with. But we are going to need picks sometimes.
PENDLES, THE SUB?
MM: Scott Pendlebury and Steele Sidebottom are iconic figures. That defensive-cover midfield role is so important to the way you set up the ground. Who is the next midfielder who could play that role?
CM: I’m glad you see that stuff, Mick. People see age and speed on the game but Pendles plays an integral role. He is hard to replace in that role because he is so clever.
We are even now talking about playing Pendles in a slightly different role, so we can get someone to (one day) replace him (in the role). We have been doing it subtly. It is a unique role if you watch the way we play. But Ned Long is showing some great signs. Harry Perryman was one we trialled there in the pre-season. Jordy (De Goey) can play a role like that too.
MM: Is that a reason why Pendles was the sub (against Port Adelaide)?
CM: We had a talk at the start of the year. I was determined to sub Pendles in ‘round zero’, that was my plan. Pendles was like ‘what about this?’ and it just made a lot more sense to be the second game … I said to him ‘if we are lucky enough to get past August, Scott Pendlebury is going to be a weapon’. We want to give him every chance to do that.
GM: Would you love to see Pendles break Brent Harvey’s games record?
CM: I don’t know what the record is.
GM: It’s 432 (Pendlebury has played 406). Would you expect him to play next year?
CM: I don’t want to create a headline because I don’t know. I won’t forecast too far. I have really got Pendles in my head from a moment to moment, week to week thing. We have a great relationship in speaking very clearly about what is needed for the team and for him. He is a selfless guy.
RECRUITS
GM: We can see from the outside what Dan Houston has brought to the on-field mix; internally how has he fitted in?
CM: You see them in other colours and you see what they do, then you see them in your own (colours) and quickly fall in love with them. He can take intercept marks, he can gather at ground level, then he can execute it. There are rare finds, that’s why you push hard at free agency to get players like him.
MM: Harry Perryman has been a bit unheralded, based on role play and in-game necessity.
CM: His contest to contest work stood out. Then you get him into the games and he has 12 tackles and adds a different value, things we’ve been missing a bit. I thought the fans would fall in love with him pretty quickly because he will just about do anything the team needs. He did things against the Dogs a few weeks ago that were unseen. He goes back straight away and he plays a role and saves goals. There was about 10 seconds to go and he spoils the ball that maybe gets marked. Internally, he is fast becoming much loved.
MM: I’ve been watching the selfless work Tim Membrey does with Mihocek and McStay. They’ve hardly played together, so they look to have a huge upside?
CM: He gets the game. He gets what’s needed. As a coach, (how good is it) to have players who go ‘whatever you need mate, I’ll start on the bench’. He is selfless, he is a great family man, always smiling. It’s a long year but the chemistry will grow.
REEF AND ED
MM: Reef McInnes went from an inside mid to a pointy end of the ground forward then he went back to fill the Nathan Murphy role. How did you feel when he injured his knee?
CM: When a young lad goes down, (it’s tough). You see the work that has gone into getting a chance and being energised by that opportunity … fighting for a contract last year. Everyone has a story, but the stories sometimes become sad ones very quickly. So we live in that care and love. He is getting an operation next week. You quickly go into solution mode. We put a contract to Reef to show we wanted him as a part of our future.
GM: Will you take a ready-made defender in the mid-season draft?
CM: We are looking all the time. Reef is definitely out for the year; we have Harvey Harrison who is not quite ruled out. He has had a little setback, so it is going to be a challenge for him to play this year. That timeline is not quite finalised yet.
MM: Why was Ed Allan dropped after Opening Round?
CM: I would have to show you the magnets, and I did this with Ed. It is not just Ed Allan out; Lachie Sullivan in. I don’t read and see much, but I did hear that … I go down the shops and I hear ‘why did you put Ed Allan out?’ I get it, but when you do the magnets … it makes sense. He plays a different role (to) Lachie Sullivan. To answer, Ed Allan is a part of our future. I tell him daily, weekly, ‘Hey, we want you in the team’. I told him four weeks out before round zero, ‘Hey, we want to give you every opportunity to play. But there are some little things in your game you need to tidy up.’ He is playing above the level at the VFL and that’s what we want to see. He is coming with us.
GM: Are you confident with the young group underneath?
CM: This is the deepest depth we have had in my time. You (could) bring in Fin Macrae and he is not an 18-year-old guy trying to work it all out. We will be tested. It’s a squad mentality. This is the journey and we’ll be judged at the end. Some judged us (from) the start.
REBUILDING JORDY
MM: Jordan De Goey is a matchwinner … but watching him last year with no other evidence than my eyes, his power wasn’t there with his high-end speed out of stoppage. With groins, you can lose that burst. Are you comfortable he can get back to being that 2023 powerful preliminary final player?
CM: Great observation. Pretty much for all of last year, he couldn’t run at 100 per cent. He was down to his lowest, in the 70s, at training and we were still putting him out there. Then he got injured. It’s a great lesson for us, and (head of high performance) Jarrod Wade is incredible in this space. We explored taking (De Goey) overseas to Doha to get things right. It made a big shift in his body. He is now running at 100 per cent in his training. The power is back in his running. We would like to think that will translate back into his games. The GWS game (34 disposals in the 2023 preliminary final) is a great one to compare.
MM: How important is that explosive midfielder like De Goey to complement the guile of Pendlebury and the creativity of Nick Daicos?
CM: We need someone to win the ball, someone to get them on the outside, and someone who has a structured role in that, as well as other versions of it. During times in games, we completely put a different mix in there because we need a different look on the game. Jordy is a powerful beast. His strengths are so huge. He is a connector and a score assist guy too.
DAICOS BOYS
MM: That leads us to Nick Daicos. I played with his dad (Peter), he had freakish ability and it didn’t just happen. He worked on it.
CM: Did Peter train at a high level? That decision-making that made people ‘go wow’, did he do that at training?
MM: Peter was undersold in terms of how hard he trained. But with the ball in hand, the decisions he made, he saw options that others couldn’t. With the tagger coming back into vogue, as we have seen with Toby Bedford, could the Blues look to tag Nick this Thursday?
CM: (George) Hewett has gone to him a few times …
MM:: Do you look at the game and say you have so much faith in this guy that through his work rate he will beat the tag? Or based on trends within the game, do you think ‘I might have to move his magnet to try to get him the ball’?
CM: If you look at the (GWS) game, you go ‘tag Nick and it worked’. Well, Nick blew himself up. His GPS (figures) in the first half was ridiculous. He did more high-speed running in that first half than he has done in some games. So he knows he can run really well and that challenges most opponents. I don’t like to leave players out on an island, so if we feel like they are trying to take him out of the game, we will help Nick get in the game. We will put him in positions where we think it is going to be hard to tag, or where we can manipulate the game better. We have multiple ways of doing that.
GM: Are Nick’s personal expectations hard to manage internally?
CM: I think there is a growth in that. He is so driven. His humility is next level. He is such a great human being. I am not going to undermine Josh either as he has had an incredible few years – a best and fairest winner. The thing about it is they connect with each other to another level. We are lucky to have both of them.
SKIPPER
MM: Has Darcy Moore’s leadership gone to another level?
CM: I am glad you’ve noticed that. We have been deliberately catching up weekly since starting back. I have asked more of him in certain areas. We had a disappointing performance (in Opening Round) … so what do we look like when we walk in the building and what is the energy we are giving off. I bounced into work ready to go (after the GWS game) and I looked at Darcy … and he just had this presence on the track and in meetings. I think he has grown … (that) part of his leadership has grown.
MM: I’m not one for rubber stamping things, but is Nick Daicos his successor?
CM: I think we would all want Nick to fulfil his potential in the leadership space. We will give him every chance to do that. You look at the votes from the leadership group this year and the feedback for this would be yes.
FUTURE
GM: Do you see yourself coaching Collingwood beyond your current deal (the end of 2026)?
CM: I do love the job. I am starting to feel a comfort in the job; the comfort is in the doing, in the processes. I came in quite experienced but still inexperienced. I don’t think you can ever be quite ready for the job, but there are not too many things that come across your desk that you haven’t lived – or done. But the way I live my life is that I don’t look too far in front. I’m very much a ‘do today well and do it really well’. I’ve got my diary, I know what tomorrow looks like. So when you talk beyond that in contract times, I struggle to sit in that space.
GM: After four seasons, how do you handle the extra scrutiny of being an AFL senior coach?
CM: I am not used to the public spotlight, I have never sort of gravitated to it or needed it. You are put in a different realm and it is not my reality. I am just a family man who likes to go home to my kids. That’s where I try to live. Probably right now I am doing it better than I have ever done it. There is the game, which I am living in with my staff, the players. Then there is the other ‘game’. I have learnt to separate the two right now.
MM: Fly, what are you better at now than when you first took over as senior coach?
CM: Managing up. My alignment with president Jeff Browne was really, really strong and it is (with) Barry Carp now. (Then former football boss) Graham Wright into Charlie Gardiner now. I was very deliberate in aligning our leadership across the pre-season. I think (I’m better) with the struggles of the job. The ‘game’ is going on outside here, it is a crazy game. It’s so unrealistic at times. It is like when you have your dog in the car and it puts its head outside the window and it’s like ‘whoa …’
MM: Will we ever see you up in the coaches’ box?
GM: I never ever coached from the coaches’ box, even at VFL (level). I have an eye for the game. I can see stuff down there. I have brilliant assistants which give me great trust. Hayden Skipworth has been amazing and all the other assistants. I have all the vision and the stats, but I find the box quite confining whereas the bench is like freedom, talking to your players, and saying ‘Look at this vision Crispy’ … ‘the numbers are saying this, boys’. I get intrigued by the commentary that you have to sit in the box to be a good coach.
MM: Is there a balance between being a servant to the data and a coach’s feel?
CM: I still think there is a genuine place for the ‘feel’. I think science is coming faster than ever, in a real AI (way of) dissecting the game. But you are going to need experts to be able to dissect that, or ask the right questions of AI.
GM: If you were Andrew Dillon for a day, is there anything you would change?
CM: I think we could trim the fat of the game pretty quickly. I don’t think anyone would care (if we lost) three or four minutes per quarter.
MM: We saw what happened to Sam Lalor in the pre-season, then we saw Rhyan Mansell suspended for three weeks. What’s your view on the AFL making rules on the run?
CM: The game constantly gives you things … (like) the contest with young (Jackson) Archer earlier in the year. I feel like we have a duty of care. You come to a contest now and there are huge consequences.
MM: In .01 of a second?
CM: That’s always the challenge … the Brayden Maynard challenge when he jumped in the air. But I would be leaning towards anything that could promote the protection of our players for the long-term beyond our game.
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Originally published as Collingwood coach Craig McRae’s Q&A with Mick McGuane and Glenn McFarlane
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