{"id":611009,"date":"2026-04-16T16:00:10","date_gmt":"2026-04-16T16:00:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/611009\/"},"modified":"2026-04-16T16:00:10","modified_gmt":"2026-04-16T16:00:10","slug":"craig-mcrae-press-conference-video-carlton-blues-vs-collingwood-magpies-latest-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/611009\/","title":{"rendered":"Craig McRae press conference, video, Carlton Blues vs Collingwood Magpies, latest news"},"content":{"rendered":"

Collingwood coach Craig McRae has delivered a post-game jab at the Blues on Thursday night, after his side\u2019s stirring come-from-behind win<\/a> at the MCG. <\/p>\n

The Magpies trailed by 18 points at the final change before storming home to again devastate their archrivals, booting seven fourth-quarter goals after they had kicked just six to three-quarter-time. <\/p>\n

Watch every match of every round of the AFL Premiership Season LIVE and ad-break free during play on FOX FOOTY, available on Kayo Sports | New to Kayo? Join now and get your first month for just $1.<\/a><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Carlton, which led by as many as 23 points, still has just one win to its name this season despite leading at half-time in five of its six matches thus far. <\/p>\n

McRae was probed in his post-match press conference on his message to his players before running out for the final quarter. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe spoke about playing the full minutes, and that\u2019s right in front of us,\u201d he told reporters. <\/p>\n

\u201cThey (the Blues) have been in front in most games (with a quarter to go) \u2026 but we were questioning whether they could do it for four quarters. <\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s the evidence that they\u2019ve put in front of everyone, so we wanted to play it out. <\/p>\n

\u201cStill, you\u2019ve got to take your chances, you\u2019ve got to make the most of it. The young lad kicks it straight at the end, it\u2019s a draw \u2014 I\u2019m not naive to think we haven\u2019t still got work to do.\u201d<\/p>\n

Superstar 100-gamer Nick Daicos spearheaded the five-straight-goal run<\/a> to start the final term, tallying 13 disposals, a goal, five score involvements and four clearances in the period.<\/p>\n

Voss speaks on Holland’s ‘off night’ | 12:15<\/p>\n

The Magpies again failed to put 100+ points on the board \u2014 with doubts still hovering over their forward connectivity and chemistry \u2014 but McRae believes his side \u201ctook a step forward\u201d. <\/p>\n

\u201cI was really proud of the last quarter, to be honest. It\u2019s probably the first time our fans and our players were in sync in terms of energy,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n

\u201cYou come watch Collingwood play in the last four years or so, the come-from-behind has been a bit of a trademark, and we haven\u2019t done it for a period like that. <\/p>\n

\u201cTo kick 7.1 and look energetic and excited \u2014 because major parts of the night were really a challenge \u2026 I\u2019m really proud of the last quarter. <\/p>\n

\u201cI sat in Adelaide after the game last week and said that \u2018we didn\u2019t manage the moments\u2019. Here we are, being lucky for a moment at the end, but I don\u2019t think that (Byrne miss) ultimately is our story. Our story is that we\u2019ve taken a step forward, looking more like us.\u201d<\/p>\n

Asked if he tapped into \u2018old\u2019 comeback Pies theme, McRae said he did, before adding: \u201cIt\u2019s not the \u2018old\u2019, it\u2019s ours. <\/p>\n

\u201cAnd it\u2019ll never be old, but I also realise it\u2019s not going to be permanent, it\u2019s never the same \u2014 we have different personnel, so it has to be a different version. <\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s a method. There\u2019s definitely a method \u2026 we went into a mode of control-the-ball a little bit in the third quarter to stabilise the game, so there are some gears. <\/p>\n

\u201cThen I said \u2018come on, boys, let\u2019s take a few more risks here, play a bit aggressively and get some pressure in the game\u2019. <\/p>\n

\u201cAnd I think our pressure was through the roof in the last quarter \u2026 good version of us, it\u2019d be nice to get that going again.\u201d<\/p>\n

Collingwood\u2019s forward connection remains a talking point, and while it won the territory battle convincingly, it only managed the same number of scoring shots as the Blues. <\/p>\n

After six marks inside 50 in the first quarter, the Pies managed just four for the rest of the game, with several long, high entries that didn\u2019t give their tall targets the best chance or marking. <\/p>\n

\u201cPlus 14 inside-50s again \u2026 it\u2019s challenging at times,\u201d McRae said. <\/p>\n

\u201cThat second quarter really challenged us; forward-half turnovers and not really scoring, and that last quarter we kicked (several) goals from forward-half turnovers. <\/p>\n

\u201cOur connection is a work in progress. We\u2019ve got work to do; I\u2019m not sitting here thinking our game is complete, no way, but I\u2019d rather be learning and winning (at the same time).\u201d<\/p>\n

McRae confirmed veteran swingman Jeremy Howe would continue to train as a forward ahead of a potential move into attack \u2014 likely once defensive reinforcements come in the form of skipper Darcy Moore and potentially Reef McInnes. <\/p>\n

That could still be more than a week away, though, with McRae not confident on Thursday night that Moore (hamstring\/leg) would be fit to play Essendon on Anzac Day. <\/p>\n

\u201cI just think flexibility \u2026 when something\u2019s not working, and we just need some movement, I thought there were times tonight when Dan looked really good for us, and Tim, but we just might need a third wheel. <\/p>\n

\u201cWhatever the game potentially needs \u2014 he\u2019s a really smart player, Howey, he\u2019s an organiser too, so he\u2019s a good leader. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ll see how that goes when Darcy Moore\u2019s back, we might have a bit more capability when he\u2019s back, but we\u2019ll keep training him forward during the week to keep that skillset and that craft up.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Collingwood coach Craig McRae has delivered a post-game jab at the Blues on Thursday night, after his side\u2019s…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":611010,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[560],"tags":[638,64,63,689,55,639,3239,10133,10143,10989,12117,12090,7483,2105,3231,10132,647,3257,677,296927,4873,668,3247,1820,25838,85,296928,24318,135325,660],"class_list":{"0":"post-611009","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-afl","8":"tag-afl","9":"tag-au","10":"tag-australia","11":"tag-australia-and-new-zealand","12":"tag-australian-football-league","13":"tag-australianfootballleague","14":"tag-carlton-blues","15":"tag-collingwood-magpies","16":"tag-craig-mcrae","17":"tag-darcy-moore","18":"tag-final-change","19":"tag-final-quarter","20":"tag-final-term","21":"tag-getty-images-inc","22":"tag-jack-jovanovski","23":"tag-jeremy-howe","24":"tag-melbourne","25":"tag-michael-voss","26":"tag-oceania","27":"tag-post-game-jab","28":"tag-post-match-press-conference","29":"tag-press-conference","30":"tag-robert-cianflone","31":"tag-score-involvements","32":"tag-scoring-shots","33":"tag-sports","34":"tag-stirring-come-from-behind","35":"tag-territory-battle","36":"tag-veteran-swingman","37":"tag-victoria"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/611009","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=611009"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/611009\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/611010"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=611009"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=611009"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=611009"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}