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Cornes: “Perplexing” comments shows stress is getting to McRae
Kane Cornes • October 9th, 2025 3:18 pm
I wouldn't mind starting with Craig McRae. In his first two years at the Collingwood Football Club, he hardly put a word out of place.
He was humble, he was engaging, he was caring, he was generous with his time. He did things in a different way than perhaps we’d seen other coaches in the way that he engages with his supporters, opposition supporters, with the media. And to be honest, it was pretty refreshing.
But the job is high stress, and with high stress and with challenges comes behavioural change. I just think over the last couple of years, some of his public comments have not reflected well on him, or the footy club, and I think it’s going to be a really challenging time for Collingwood as I’ve expressed previously.
I think that stress of competing at the highest level is coming out in some of his public comments.
Let’s go back to a few things that he said in 2024. I didn’t think he covered himself in glory when he mentioned that the free kick situation would have been different if the game was played at the MCG – this after that close loss against Sydney at the SCG, where the umpire didn’t pay a 50m penalty late in the game.
‘Okay, that’s interesting, nothing that we’re going to hold against him but strange for him to say that the umpire would have been different if the game was played at the MCG’.
End of last year, the players, not picks situation was strange to me.
I understand that draft picks initially aren’t going to help you remain right up the top of the ladder, but I think it’s important as a football club to continually invest in the draft for the betterment for the club’s future, and not just for the betterment of you and the now. I don’t think that one is going to age particularly well.
Round 20 this year, after the loss to Fremantle… this one was ordinary.
He had a real crack at Fremantle. He said they play a good brand of footy when they’re up and going fast, maybe they should play a bit more of that at times.
I never really like it when opposition clubs are critical of the team that they have played against and their game style, particularly since that point in time when he mentioned that comment on Fremantle, his Collingwood scores – 93 against Richmond, a bottom two side, in Round 21.
They kicked 65 against Brisbane in Round 22. Round 23, they kicked 46 points against Hawthorn. In Round 24 against Adelaide, they kicked 56 points. In Round 25 against a bottom six side in Melbourne, they kicked 82 points, and then in the finals series they went 79, 71.
In the last seven games since that comment about Fremantle’s game style, they averaged 70 points. They play slow, they play boring, they play down the line, safe football.
I think they need to have some of their own medicine when it comes to playing a bit faster and releasing the shackles.
And then this off-season has been average for Craig McRae.
The Brownlow Medal comment, the disrespect shown towards Matt Rowell at the Collingwood Best and fairest was strange.
I don’t think Gold Coast were thrilled on that and considering that Matt Rowell has two years left on his contract and has purchased a house in Victoria, and I think will be considering coming home at some point, Collingwood would have been at the front of the queue.
You just wonder how that comment will come back to hurt them when it comes to their recruiting.
And now, the latest one, they are going to consider changing the Collingwood best and fairest voting system because Nick Daicos didn’t win it.
I’m not sure how Darcy Cameron would feel about that, I can’t imagine great, and I’m not sure how the Collingwood assistant coaches, that vote on the best and fairest, would also feel about that, considering they would take their votes pretty seriously.
To have their votes questioned off the back of that… I think they would be scratching their heads as well. The voting system is fine – five coaches vote between zero and four votes, any player can receive a maximum of 20 votes, that’s a pretty standard best and fairest voting system.
So, the darling of the media, the one that took us all by storm in the first two years, Craig McRae, he is starting to go through a challenging time, and I think the stress of the job, which is at times understandable, is starting to come out with some of his perplexing public commentary, and I think he needs some pretty strong advice in and around how he is currently handling the media, and how it is reflecting poorly on his football club.
