AFL 2022: Nathan Buckley praises Collingwood coach Craig McRae’s ‘act like winners’ reaction after Geelong loss
Collingwood coach Craig McRae raised eyebrows with his reaction to his players falling to the ground after the final siren on Saturday, but he has a big name in his corner.
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Former Collingwood coach Nathan Buckley has hailed his successor Craig McRae’s ‘winner’ mentality after his polarising post-match stance on his players’ reaction to defeat.
McRae was critical of some Magpies who slumped to the MCG surface after the six-point loss and told them he did not want them doing it again while he was in charge, potentially outside of a grand final defeat.
“We want to act like winners. I must admit, the siren goes and there’s half a dozen of our guys laying on the ground. For me, that’s not a winner,” he said.
“That’s acting like a loser. We lost the game; we’re not losers. So I just made that point. We’re here to win this thing (and) we’ll give it everything we’ve got.
“You get to this time of the year and you want to give it your best shot ... I said that for the lifetime I’m sitting in this chair, maybe barring a grand final, if we don’t win, don’t lay on the ground.”
Not everyone agreed with McRae’s take but he had strong support from Buckley, who said the comments were “fantastic”.
“It sets an expectation around where they want to be long term, but clearly it (also) sets up his players that they’re not done yet,” Buckley said on SEN.
“If you’re using an analogy of using September being a game of footy, four weeks is a game, and each week is a quarter ... they’ve still got three quarters to play if they’re good enough.
“They go into the second quarter, and you don’t lie down there – the challenge is still in front of them, and they’re not done – in a one-season campaign, you’ve still got fight in you and you’re still up and ready to go.
“That’s why I reckon the ‘bar the grand final’ was there. That’s the end of the campaign and they’re still in the middle of theirs and that’s where he was coming from.”
Collingwood meets Fremantle in an elimination semi-final at the MCG on Saturday night, with the winner advancing to a preliminary final clash against Sydney.
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Originally published as AFL 2022: Nathan Buckley praises Collingwood coach Craig McRae’s ‘act like winners’ reaction after Geelong loss
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