Welcome to Collingwood, Coach Craig McRae

[Magpietothemax]

That ignores the fact that under Buckley, we played a very positive and attacking brand of footy in 2018 and almost (should have) won the flag - missing our main 2 tall defenders, and with Treloar playing with a lame leg, and Pendles a crook back.

I think Bucks coached well, with the players available. As for 2022, apart from the loss of Grundy, this year has been our most injury free season that I can recall.

However, if you ask me right now who is the better coach, I'd say McCrae. But let's not pretend Bucks was a shit coach when his overall record, with seeming injury ridden seasons one after the other, is evidence he was a very good coach.

Under pure Buckley, we played the most utterly defensive retrograde game style ever created (according to Swannie, the way we played post 2018 "made the eyes bleed".).
2018 was an outlier in the Buckley era, made possible by assistant coaches such as Justin Longmuir and Hocking. When they left, the Buckley "eyes bleedin'" approach became the dominant factor.
2019 was the year where the unravelling began.The legacy of 2018 still lingered on, but we saw the truth in 2020 and then most graphically in 2021.
Buckley was not a good coach. His influence was destructive in many ways, and it continued unfortunately when Robert Harvey took over. Not Harvey's fault - he was simply playing out the coaching code that Bux had impressed upon the entire coaching staff.
I cannot see how any AFL team in their right mind could possibly entertain the idea of recruiting Bux as their senior coach.

[BazBoy]

The Craig McRae era may well be The Era of Respect:::

Saturday it was John Nobles 26 birthday so as he adressed players before the match he bought out the cup cake and candle and acknowledged Johns day

We have as our coach a person with so much humility and respect to which I am so proud to be part of his era

[BenBronx]

Prior to the Port game I watched his SEN interview on YouTube. He seems to have such an enthusiasm for the game and comes across as such a likeable and intelligent person and wants to play an exciting brand of footy. I'll be honest I was never a big fan of Bucks as a coach (loved him as a player) and was hoping we'd have got rid of him sooner. I wanted Alastair Clarkson. But if that had happened we possibly/probably wouldn't currently have Fly as coach. Who knows what the future holds but I can say right now, hand on heart, there is no other coach I'd rather have at Collingwood.

For anyone who wants to see his interview it can be found here...

In-depth with Collingwood AFL coach Craig McRae - SEN
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Uwh_C4ghc0

[pietillidie]

He always gives good interviews, but by geez he's quality:

https://www.collingwoodfc.com.au/video/ ... 0264822001

[think better]

There are 3 moments that I think characterise the Mc Rae era so far

- When Howe was stretchered off the ground and every Collingwood player came over to him as he was being taken off

- When Maynard scrubbed the kick that caused an opposition goal and he and Markov chuckled about it (reminded me of playing grade footy and cracking up when someone really just stuffed up)

- the game today when half a dozen players stood up for Naicos after the Hoskin-Elliot goal

Such a positive environment for any player to be part of.

[Pies4shaw]

Sack Craig McRae

Seriously? Do you even support Collingwood?

[KenH]

Sack Craig McRae

Could you please think before you post and then not! You sir are not a good supporter!

[Take_a_Screamer]

[BenBronx]

It'll be his 50th birthday on the night of the Prelim. Hopefully we can celebrate it in style.

[pietillidie]

That was a coaching masterclass. See my comments in the post-match thread. So big is the advantage of winning that game, rolling the dice was well worthwhile.(In fact, in my view it wasn't really rolling the dice because we're nowhere near as good in the wet. But it was very bold and took a lot of guts).

Now, everyone including Nicky D. gets an extra week.

Winning is not always about playing your best football full stop. It's about playing your best football in the given circumstances: wet and unable to use our biggest strength, slick ball movement, while being a few powerful, mature bodies short for wet weather footy.

A greatly underrated win in my view.

[duggieboy]

That was a coaching masterclass. See my comments in the post-match thread. So big is the advantage of winning that game, rolling the dice was well worthwhile.(In fact, in my view it wasn't really rolling the dice because we're nowhere near as good in the wet. But it was very bold and took a lot of guts).

Now, everyone including Nicky D. gets an extra week.

Winning is not always about playing your best football full stop. It's about playing your best football in the given circumstances: wet and unable to use our biggest strength, slick ball movement, while being a few powerful, mature bodies short for wet weather footy.

A greatly underrated win in my view.

Couldn't agree more. What a weapon our coaching team are, correctly identifying the strengths of the oppo & adjusting the game plan to best effect.
No doubt a real handfull for opposition coaches.

[Jezza]

It'll be his 50th birthday on the night of the Prelim. Hopefully we can celebrate it in style.

50th game as coach on his 50th birthday.

It's fitting.

[BenBronx]

Collingwood coach Craig McRae in huge baby revelation ahead of AFL grand final
Credit: Yahoo Sport Australia
https://au.sports.yahoo.com/collingwood ... 46871.html


Craig McRae will have double the reason to celebrate if Collingwood wins the AFL grand final, with wife Gabrielle reportedly expecting their first child together. McRae will lead the Magpies into Saturday's grand final against Brisbane, which will see the two best teams all season collide in the decider.

In a wonderful twist for the Collingwood coach, it emerged over the weekend that he's also expecting with wife Gabrielle. According to the Herald Sun, Gabrielle is due in mid-October with what will be the couple's first child together.

The 50-year-old McRae married Gabrielle last year. He has two daughters - Charlie and Chelsea - from his first marriage. The coach was seen celebrating with Gabrielle and daughter Charlie in the Collingwood rooms after their preliminary final win over GWS on Friday night.

McRae isn't the only Magpie expecting a baby soon, with Jack Crisp revealing after the win over GWS that he wasn't sure if his wife had gone into labour yet. Crisp's wife Mikayla is 38 weeks pregnant with their third child, making for an unwanted dilemma heading into the grand final.

During an interview with Channel after the preliminary final, Crisp said: “Just need to go check on my wife and make sure she hasn’t gone into labour." The midfielder said Mikayla had given him her blessing to play in Saturday's decider.

“We’ve got a scan on Monday, we’ll see what happens,” he said. “We’ve got family down anyway. It’s Mickey’s idea not to miss. I’ll be playing next week.”

[swoop42]

Thank the Lord that Hardwick didn't decide to go sun his balls in Queensland 2 years earlier.

Thank God that Wright had the sense to seek McRae out. Ed wouldn't have.

Thank Christ he is all ours.

Young and old alike he's allowed us to believe that the dreams of Collingwood supporters really can come true.

Sweet 16. Equal. That means a lot to the many who have been hoping for a generation.

Thank you Craig.

[jonmac1954]

Fly, a man for the times.
A genuine, authentic person always looking build others up.
An enabler, a champion of inclusion and recognition.

He and Fages represent the new dawn of leadership amidst a sea of dinosaurs and "influencers".

The changes to our dear old club have been thorough and desperately needed.

The "do better" initiative started it all, then Wrighty coming back to the fold and finally the glue that holds us together Fly.

We are now so much more like the club my father loved than we have been for far too many decades, thank you Fly.