Coach Craig McRae

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stormskye said:
The club was in disarray when McRae took over. I wasn’t criticising players.

Perhaps dogs breakfast wasn’t a great choice of words.
I apologise if that’s been taken out of context. Wasn’t my intention.
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You shouldn't apologise, what other description would be more appropriate? The club was in such a bad way on & off field
 
gouki88 said:
Nobody said anything about "dogsbodies" in the team. Are you trying to make the claim that the club was in a good place??
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I haven't mentioned 'the club', I took it as referring to the playing list. (dog's breakfast agree not dogs bodies).

stormskye has since clarified.
 

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Maggie5 said:
VP, I think you know I don't believe in the 'in Fly we trust mantra' and that I have always had concerns about his 'in play' decision making.

There may have been external noises but the squad he inherited was very good and with a clean sweep of the club had clean air.
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What have been the consequences of Fly’s poor “in play” decisions?
 
He has been a god send has Craig
But we need him to start making some tough calls.

We have maintained we “won’t play players that aren’t ready” but you look across the competition and there’s young kids being played in abundance across all teams…and they don’t look any more advanced than what ours are.

We can’t expect them to come in and wait until they are at Naicos level because that won’t happen.

Craig is going to need to start entrusting more younger players with larger responsibilities and is going to have to do so quickly to salvage the season from complete disaster.
 
Maggie5 said:
VP, I think you know I don't believe in the 'in Fly we trust mantra' and that I have always had concerns about his 'in play' decision making.

There may have been external noises but the squad he inherited was very good and with a clean sweep of the club had clean air.
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Can you give some examples of the ‘in play’ decision making?
 
Some seem to think that Collingwood have a decent list: That we’ve always been there-abouts and 2021 was an aberration. And that coming on board McRae has rightfully managed to whip us into winning a Premiership. And that now we’re 0-3, it’s Fly and the coaching crew who are the ones who need to “get to work” and that dynasty many are expecting back on track.

I see it differently, very very differently …

I think finishing 17th in 2021 was a true reflection of the state of our list. I reckon Sidebottom and WHE would have long ago retired. Maybe even Pendlebury. Unlikely we would have attracted players of the calibre of McStay, Mitchell or Shultz. I just can’t see us recruiting players like Frampton and Markov, and we would have instead “played the kids”. Players like Macrae, Allen and McInnis (and probably Draper and Ramsay) would have gotten more gametime which would delight many fans, except that IMO we would be languishing mid to bottom of ladder.

I think Fly has been a master and under him we have managed a Prelim and a Premiership we had no right to be anywhere near.

I see that 0-3 after playing 2 very strong teams, and a third that is a bit above average who we got on their day when we were marked opponents … is a fair reflection of where we are at.

Fly’s job is so much harder in 2024. No more are we considered the team that has managed to blag a series of lucky wins, and that our luck is due to run out eventually. We are now the team to beat. Look around the competition, teams are now saying “we beat last year’s Premiers”, or “we just lost to a team who beat last year’s Premiers”:

No doubt we’re in a low patch at the moment. Who knows what will happen for the rest of the season? Regardless of whether we end up 1st or 17th, I will trust that Fly will have worked to get the very best out of what our list is capable of.
 
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Captivating said:
Currently the worst coach of 2024
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I agree.

What's he been doing? How hard is it to tell Frampton not to handball into Moore's head? Crisp to catch the footy. Mitchell to catch the footy. Sidey to not stuff everything up. Pendles to run fast. All of them to stick a tackle.
 

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Bianconeri said:
Down back yes but that advantage was wasted by punching to a St Kilda player or Moore’s turnovers. And up forward nothing changed.
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I htought our aerial game was better up forward and the forwards were better when they hit up to the wing as well. I thought it was allround and clearly a big focus, because we gave away a lot of frees to get that better performance.
 
76woodenspooners said:
Some seem to think that Collingwood have a decent list: That we’ve always been there-abouts and 2021 was an aberration. And that coming on board McRae has rightfully managed to whip us into winning a Premiership. And that now we’re 0-3, it’s Fly and the coaching crew who are the ones who need to “get to work” and that dynasty many are expecting back on track.

I see it differently, very very differently …

I think finishing 17th in 2021 was a true reflection of the state of our list. I reckon Sidebottom and WHE would have long ago retired. Maybe even Pendlebury. Unlikely we would have attracted players of the calibre of McStay, Mitchell or Shultz. I just can’t see us recruiting players like Frampton and Markov, and we would have instead “played the kids”. Players like Macrae, Allen and McInnis (and probably Draper and Ramsay) would have gotten more gametime which would delight many fans, except that IMO we would be languishing mid to bottom of ladder.

I think Fly has been a master and under him we have managed a Prelim and a Premiership we had no right to be anywhere near.

I see that 0-3 after playing 2 very strong teams, and a third that is a bit above average who we got on their day when we were marked opponents … is a fair reflection of where we are at.

Fly’s job is so much harder in 2024. No more are we considered the team that has managed to blag a series of lucky wins, and that our luck is due to run out eventually. We are now the team to beat. Look around the competition, teams are now saying “we beat last year’s Premiers”, or “we just lost to a team who beat last year’s Premiers”:

No doubt we’re in a low patch at the moment. Who knows what will happen for the rest of the season? Regardless of whether we end up 1st or 17th, I will trust that Fly will have worked to get the very best out of what our list is capable of.
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I think you're right with maybe an exception about being 17th. I think everyone pretty much gave up at that stage. But I think GWS and Sydney have a ton more talent, and we snuck a flag by our senior players being focussed and keeping players like markov and frampton doing the simple things well. Everyone seemed to agree with a rebuild in 2022 and its two years later now. I think the senior players have probably lost a smidgen and we're about equal to richmond.
 
Bianconeri said:
Down back yes but that advantage was wasted by punching to a St Kilda player or Moore’s turnovers. And up forward nothing changed.
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You should send Craig an email.
 
76woodenspooners said:
Some seem to think that Collingwood have a decent list: That we’ve always been there-abouts and 2021 was an aberration. And that coming on board McRae has rightfully managed to whip us into winning a Premiership. And that now we’re 0-3, it’s Fly and the coaching crew who are the ones who need to “get to work” and that dynasty many are expecting back on track.

I see it differently, very very differently …

I think finishing 17th in 2021 was a true reflection of the state of our list. I reckon Sidebottom and WHE would have long ago retired. Maybe even Pendlebury. Unlikely we would have attracted players of the calibre of McStay, Mitchell or Shultz. I just can’t see us recruiting players like Frampton and Markov, and we would have instead “played the kids”. Players like Macrae, Allen and McInnis (and probably Draper and Ramsay) would have gotten more gametime which would delight many fans, except that IMO we would be languishing mid to bottom of ladder.

I think Fly has been a master and under him we have managed a Prelim and a Premiership we had no right to be anywhere near.

I see that 0-3 after playing 2 very strong teams, and a third that is a bit above average who we got on their day when we were marked opponents … is a fair reflection of where we are at.

Fly’s job is so much harder in 2024. No more are we considered the team that has managed to blag a series of lucky wins, and that our luck is due to run out eventually. We are now the team to beat. Look around the competition, teams are now saying “we beat last year’s Premiers”, or “we just lost to a team who beat last year’s Premiers”:

No doubt we’re in a low patch at the moment. Who knows what will happen for the rest of the season? Regardless of whether we end up 1st or 17th, I will trust that Fly will have worked to get the very best out of what our list is capable of.
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I think you're just plain wrong.

It was the same core players that had us top 4 in 2018 and 2019. Sidey, Pendles and Howe had declined a bit, but most of the others had improved. Grundy and Treloar were gone - but we'd added Daicos, Daicos Mitchell and IQ. If 2022-23 was just down to outstanding coaching - so too was 2018-2019.

We've had a good group for a while. The next couple of years was always going to be the tricky bit - with Pendles, Howe and Sidey going and god knows how many of Adams, Crisp, Elliott, Mihocek.
 
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sr36 said:
I think you're just plain wrong.

It was the same core players that had us top 4 in 2018 and 2019. Sidey, Pendles and Howe had declined a bit, but most of the others had improved. Grundy and Treloar were gone - but we'd added Daicos, Daicos Mitchell and IQ. If 2022-23 was just down to outstanding coaching - so too was 2018-2019.

We've had a good group for a while. The next couple of years was always going to be the tricky bit - with Pendles, Howe and Sidey going and god knows how many of Adams, Crisp, Elliott, Mihocek.
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I’ll take a centrist Sr leaning view of this one. The Buckley years we under achieved through 17-21 in all bar 2018 with 2019 and 2020 real missed opportunities. We then move to the McRae years where I believe we’ve overachieved with a group stretching into its twilight years.

The path ahead is going to prove tricky, but the bones are there if we can solve the Howe puzzle. Murphy was the answer, but yeah who knows with that one. A Macrae/ Allan/ HH/ Eyre/ Dean/ TJ/ Demattia doing a Fletcher/ McVee coming from nowhere to lock down a best 23 spot could kick things along. Otherwise I’m glad we’ve still got our 2025 1st hah.
 
I think the next six months is going to have a say in just how good mcrae is... if we make finals, he will have to re-motivate players who may have achieved career goals.....howe, sidebottom, pendles, mitchell, cox and the list goes on.... most of those might have had thoughts on retirement after the grand final, if only for one minute. As they say, once you start thinking, you're gone. If macrae can drag them back to going again, i'll be amazed.
 
Markfs said:
I think the next six months is going to have a say in just how good mcrae is... if we make finals, he will have to re-motivate players who may have achieved career goals.....howe, sidebottom, pendles, mitchell, cox and the list goes on.... most of those might have had thoughts on retirement after the grand final, if only for one minute. As they say, once you start thinking, you're gone. If macrae can drag them back to going again, i'll be amazed.
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Long term, Fly's coaching at the pies will be judged on this year and the transition over the next 4 or so as many key players retire. Sure the next six months will have a say but Leigh Matthews failed to deliver in 1991, I'm not going to judge fly at the end of six months. I am a bit with Bucks in this matter, I don't think it is up to Fly to motivate the elderly. Game plan is another matter. The synergy of last year seems lost: not convinced Fly has much to do with that.
 
noideaatall said:
Long term, Fly's coaching at the pies will be judged on this year and the transition over the next 4 or so as many key players retire. Sure the next six months will have a say but Leigh Matthews failed to deliver in 1991, I'm not going to judge fly at the end of six months. I am a bit with Bucks in this matter, I don't think it is up to Fly to motivate the elderly. Game plan is another matter. The synergy of last year seems lost: not convinced Fly has much to do with that.
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I dont think he's a game plan kind of guy. I'm just saying at a personal level, that I consider him impressive for how he got 40 players aligned in the last two years.....to fail this time wont take away from that assessment ....but I would consider it another feather in his cap.

Things were aligned at the end of 2022 for the arrival of a messiah...he did well with it. He got them back on the horse post syd prelim loss. No mean feat. However, getting them back on the horse this time would be impressive.
 
Markfs said:
I dont think he's a game plan kind of guy. I'm just saying at a personal level, that I consider him impressive for how he got 40 players aligned in the last two years.....to fail this time wont take away from that assessment ....but I would consider it another feather in his cap.

Things were aligned at the end of 2022 for the arrival of a messiah...he did well with it. He got them back on the horse post syd prelim loss. No mean feat. However, getting them back on the horse this time would be impressive.
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I think you under estimate Fly.

He is 100% a game plan kind of guy. I think he knows exactly how he wants the team to play.

The only mistake is not having recruited a quality back up for McStay (when we knew he was injured). The forward line will function well.

Backline is struggling to adjust to life without Murphy.

He will get the team back on track, it will probably be with different people leading the way though.



Sent from my Pixel 7 Pro using Tapatalk
 
Markfs said:
I dont think he's a game plan kind of guy. I'm just saying at a personal level, that I consider him impressive for how he got 40 players aligned in the last two years.....to fail this time wont take away from that assessment ....but I would consider it another feather in his cap.

Things were aligned at the end of 2022 for the arrival of a messiah...he did well with it. He got them back on the horse post syd prelim loss. No mean feat. However, getting them back on the horse this time would be impressive.
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Not a “game plan kind of guy”

This is some of your best work Mark.
 
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