“Internally, Craig drives our family-first value and connection between players and staff, while emphasising the importance of extending that connection with our 19th player – Collingwood members and supporters.”
Loading
McRae’s first season in charge was 2022, when the Magpies finished fourth before winning the premiership the following season. Collingwood missed the finals in 2024, finishing ninth and out of the eight on percentage, before making the preliminary final this year. They lost to eventual premiers the Brisbane Lions, the club where McRae won three premierships as a player form 2001-03.
The Magpies’ list is now in transition, from the club having fielded the oldest team in AFL history this year to now seeking to rejuvenate the list on the run and remain in finals contention.
Veteran premiership pair Mason Cox and Tom Mitchell were not offered new contracts, with Cox subsequently recruited as a supplementary selection by Fremantle on a two-year deal while Mitchell is yet to be picked up by another club. Fellow premiership player Will Hoskin-Elliott announced his retirement.
Collingwood list boss Justin Leppitsch.Credit: AFL Photos
The club traded away draft picks in the 2024 off-season, bringing in experienced talent in Dan Houston and Harry Perryman after McRae famously, and ill-advisedly, said he wanted players, not draft picks.
At the end of the 2025 season, McRae said the club needed to shift that balance back towards bringing in younger players, and consequently did not trade in any players and went to the draft – albeit with a weakened hand of picks given they had traded away their first-round draft pick the year earlier, and secured a handful of big-bodied midfielders.
McRae worked as a development and assistant coach at the Melbourne Storm, Collingwood, Richmond and Hawthorn, before being appointed Collingwood senior coach ahead of the 2022 campaign.
Keep up to date with the best AFL coverage in the country. Sign up for the Real Footy newsletter.