{"id":856766,"date":"2026-08-16T01:26:33","date_gmt":"2026-08-16T01:26:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/856766\/"},"modified":"2026-08-16T01:26:33","modified_gmt":"2026-08-16T01:26:33","slug":"afl-2026-craig-mcrae-press-conference-after-collingwood-v-hawthorn-draw-comments-on-resting-players-v-brisbane-wildcard-and-finals-spot-scenarios","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/856766\/","title":{"rendered":"AFL 2026: Craig McRae press conference after Collingwood v Hawthorn draw, comments on resting players v Brisbane, wildcard and finals spot scenarios"},"content":{"rendered":"

Collingwood coach Craig McRae insisted he would not rest players \u201cjust for the sake of it\u201d next week despite being almost certainly locked into the inaugural \u201cwildcard\u201d round in a fortnight\u2019s time after a stunning repeat draw against Hawthorn<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The Magpies come up against the Brisbane Lions in a blockbuster clash at the MCG on Friday night, but the reigning back-to-back premiers will have more to play for given they need to win to all but seal a top-four spot and the double chance that comes with it.<\/p>\n

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To make the top six, Collingwood would require the incredibly unlikely scenario of beating Brisbane; Richmond annihilating Geelong at Kardinia Park; and GWS smashing the Crows at Adelaide Oval.<\/p>\n

In all likelihood, the Magpies won\u2019t get the week off and will have to take the long way home if they want to challenge for the flag.<\/p>\n

Jeremy Howe (arm), Brayden Maynard (knee\/hamstring), Steele Sidebottom (illness), Harry Perryman (hamstring) and Pat Lipinski (calf) could all become available this week and while McRae admitted missing the top six could impact the way they manage their players this week, he intimated that whoever is fit will line up.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve got a lot of players coming back. I say that, but they\u2019ve still got to get through the week,\u201d McRae said.<\/p>\n

\u201cSome might need to be managed … (but) we\u2019ll manage them if they need to be managed, not just for the sake of it.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf they\u2019re really sore and they can\u2019t perform, well they won\u2019t play next week. But right now there\u2019s an energy that everyone wants to play so that\u2019ll be interesting how that plays out.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hawks v Pies ends in epic DRAW! | 00:27<\/p>\n

McRae was \u201cimmensely proud\u201d of his undermanned team which pushed Hawthorn to another draw at the MCG on Saturday night.<\/p>\n

The Magpies and Hawks became the first pair of teams in VFL\/AFL history to play in two draws against each other in the same season.<\/p>\n

Collingwood headed into the game as outsiders without Howe, Maynard, Sidebottom, Jamie Elliott (knee), Perryman, Darcy Moore (hamstring), Lipinski and Oscar Steene (knee) and almost caused an upset against a Hawthorn team only missing Conor Nash (neck) and Jack Scrimshaw (knee).<\/p>\n

McRae celebrated the result after the final siren with the fans as if they had won.<\/p>\n

Collingwood coach Craig McRae after his team’s repeat draw against Hawthorn.Source: FOX SPORTS<\/p>\n

\u201cLook at it from our lens and we\u2019ve got five players under 10 games,\u201d McRae said.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur group continues to go to another level of spirit and fight and what did we get? Twenty-one points down in the last quarter? And, yeah, we just don\u2019t give up.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd our youth were the energisers in that.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s always hard to know how to react after a draw, but I thought we won a lot of things tonight and the scoreboard wasn\u2019t one of them, but we won a lot of things.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe players don\u2019t give up. And maybe that\u2019s starting to reverberate across the competition. You\u2019ve got to beat us.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Magpies were looking shaky just after the halfway point of the season with a 5-7-1 record, but have lost only once in their past nine matches in a spectacular turnaround.<\/p>\n

McRae said his team had a lot of belief about what they could achieve this season.<\/p>\n

\u201cOnce you get to the pointy end, it\u2019s just knockout and it\u2019s match play,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cLet\u2019s see where we land and we\u2019ll give it everything we\u2019ve got.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Collingwood coach Craig McRae insisted he would not rest players \u201cjust for the sake of it\u201d next week…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":856767,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[560],"tags":[638,64,63,55,639,85],"class_list":["post-856766","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-afl","tag-afl","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-australian-football-league","tag-australianfootballleague","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/856766","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=856766"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/856766\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/856767"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=856766"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=856766"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=856766"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}