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Cornes: “Exceptional” McRae in running for Coach of the Year
SEN • July 20th, 2026 12:57 pm
Craig McRae, Coach of the Year?
Despite Collingwood sitting eighth with 10 wins (and a draw), Kane Cornes reckons McRae’s superior coaching ability has him firmly in the conversation.
While ladder-leading Fremantle’s Justin Longmuir, Brisbane’s back-to-back mastermind Chris Fagan, Hawthorn’s ‘genius’ Sam Mitchell, Melbourne’s magic maker Steven King and even Port Adelaide’s (potentially) overachieving Josh Carr have been thrown up as COTY options, Cornes has other ideas.
“I’m incredibly pessimistic about Collingwood’s next three years from a list point of view. That’s the negative,” Cornes said on SEN’s Fireball.
“The positive is Craig McRae is well and truly in the running for Coach of the Year. I’ve heard all sorts of names been thrown up. I’ve heard Josh Carr in 15th position in the running.
“Craig McRae may well be the Coach of the Year because he is doing more with less than any other coach right now.
“There is a system that he gets his players to buy into that strangles you like a Boa constrictor. They get a hold of you and they do not let you go. They just strangle the breath out of you and you’re done.
“That’s the metaphor for the way Collingwood play when I watch them. They’re so hard to score against.”
Co-host David King said: “It doesn’t matter who. No Darcy Moore, no Jeremy Howe, no worries.”
Cornes added: “It doesn’t matter (who plays). He’s done more with less than any other coach.
“He is an exceptional coach.”
King added: “Can they make a prelim?”
Cornes concluded: “No. I don’t think they’ve got the firepower to do that.
“But they’re going to cause some headaches. There’s a want to win about this group and then think they can, so that’s all that really matters.
“I think we need to recognise - as much as I’ve been critical of the list build and strategy - the genius of the coach and his ability to get the players to buy into what they’re doing.”
McRae was named the AFLCA’s Allan Jeans Senior Coach of the Year in 2022 - his first season at the helm - when Collingwood made the preliminary final after finishing 17th in 2021.
He of course won the premiership with the Magpies in 2023 and was named coach of the All-Australian team.
