Collingwood liked? It’s all there in black and white
Collingwood used to be hated by its rivals. It may not be liked just yet, but it is admired. A new president, coach, captain and other key changes have turned the club around.
When corporate identity Jeff Browne became Collingwood president two years ago he found a club devoid of confidence, down and out after finishing 17th and embroiled in a racism scandal.
Now the Magpies might have the happiest workplace in football, encapsulated by captain Darcy Moore’s huge smile when leading his team on to the field each match this finals series.
Moore is having the time of his life, as are Browne and the huge Collingwood army of fans across the country as they prepare for Saturday’s grand final against the Brisbane Lions.
“People are smiling here. They’re happy in their job. They’re overachieving every day,” Browne says with a grin.
It is all thanks to a few key decisions the new president took: a thoughtful and sensitive coach in Craig McRae the players are highly motivated to play for, and a couple of 1990 premiership heroes in Craig Kelly and Graham Wright, brought back into the fold to put the finishing touches on the club.
Once polarising and hated, the new Collingwood is turning out to be quite likeable despite the best efforts of Lions coach Chris Fagan, whose calls for non-Magpies fans to back his club this week have mostly fallen on deaf ears.
“In the past, people either loved Collingwood or hated Collingwood,” Browne tells The Australian. “Now there’s a few more in the middle who perhaps don’t love Collingwood but admire the way we play. And you have to, because it is always a 110 per cent effort by the players.
“And they are determined to even go harder this week because this is an opportunity in front of us, and we have to seize the day.”
Though he won three grand finals in his playing days, ironically at Brisbane, McRae was an underrated assistant coach at Richmond when appointed Collingwood coach by Browne’s predecessor, Mark Korda, in late 2021.
It was a big change from previous big-personality coaches Nathan Buckley, a former Collingwood champion player, and the abrasive Mick Malthouse.
The turnaround on and off the field since has been remarkable.
Collingwood played a boring, defensive style in finishing 17th in 2021, and ex-president Eddie McGuire had resigned after bungling the club’s response to the Do Better report into its racism, replaced for a short time by Korda before Browne, a former Channel 9 boss, campaigned hard to take the top boardroom role.
McRae coaches a more direct and more risky style that has unshackled the players, while Moore’s leadership has been marked by a series of thoughtful remarks, including his tribute to the armed forces after the Anzac Day match against Essendon and a respectful appearance at a healing ceremony for St Kilda great Nicky Winmar, who had been racially abused by Collingwood fans 30 years ago.
“He’s a highly intelligent, highly motivated, extremely talented young man,” said Browne, who as a lawyer managed Moore’s father, Peter, a Collingwood great in the 1970s and early ’80s.
“I’ve seen him develop from the time when he was the lead in the school play, growing up with a thirst for knowledge and developing himself as a really well rounded, great human being.”
McRae’s quiet determination and softly spoken leadership skills as coach have also been lauded across the AFL. Browne says his empathy for the players has been vital.
“I think as all workplaces have become increasingly complex, it’s important to have someone like him who’s played and achieved at the highest level to connect with the players, and he does that.
“The players have huge respect for him. He’s very thoughtful and he’s sensitive. Players are all different and they’ll have different needs and different emotional experiences. They’re all committed to a high-performing sporting culture, but he connects with them at so many levels and makes them feel safe and able to do their best.”
It has all led to a mentality that has helped Collingwood win a series of thrilling, close games during McRae’s time in charge, including a one-point win over GWS Giants in the preliminary final last week and a seven-point victory over Melbourne in the first week of the finals. “The coach has a saying: ‘We play for the moments’. It’s not minutes, it is the seconds. You have to be at your best every second and every hour of every day,” says Browne.
Then there are Wright and Kelly, 1990 Magpies grand final heroes and now general manager of football and chief executive respectively. Wright spent 14 years winning premierships at Hawthorn and Kelly found business success as a player manager before they were lured back to Collingwood.
“Graham is an executive manager but also a brilliant recruiter,” Browne says, adding with a laugh: “As for Craig, I asked him at the Brownlow Medal (on Monday night) whether he realised how boring his career had been for the last 10 years before he came back here, and he said that he agreed with me.”
Collingwood fans thrilled by their team this year would also agree.
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