Getting better every day.

It’s the mantra Collingwood Senior Coach Craig McRae has lived by since his appointment in late 2021 and it’s one he’s not letting go of ahead of his fifth season in charge of the black and white.

While reports of a change in game style have circulated over the summer, the 2023 Premiership coach indicated that while evolution was inevitable under his rein, drastic changes won’t be seen in the Pies’ game style this year.

“I think what you see at the start of the year, it will be different at the end. That was us last year as well,” McRae told AFL.com.au’s Damien Barrett in a wide-ranging chat last week.

“The game asks that of you … you’ve got to evolve and we’ll do the same.

“We’re trying to make subtle shifts to parts of our game. I know it’s been reported differently, but it won’t be drastic.

“(We had the) number one defence in the competition last year, we want to maintain that, but we also … might have to give up a little bit to get more somewhere else.

“We want to evolve and we want to grow and our version of growing is that yeah, you’ll see a different version of us and you’ll see subtle versions of change hopefully.”

When prompted on how he reflected on 2025 – a season that ultimately fell short of the Club’s goal of a second Premiership in three years, McRae was pragmatic in his view.

Highlighting the emotion surrounding a tight Preliminary Final loss, the 52-year-old said he had used the off-season to step back from the helter-skelter nature of the season and appreciate the effort it took to get to the penultimate weekend of the year.

“I thought that we had a really good year and things happen,” McRae said of 2025.

“The Pendlebury injury (in the Preliminary Final) or the non-free kick to Jamie, things happen.

“When you win a Premiership and we were lucky enough to do it (in 2023), you find a way to get through those.

“When you don’t get what you want or things don’t quite go your way, they’re what you talk about … and I think we live in the world of we ultimately just didn’t get what we want from little moments.

“It’s a long way back there but I think on reflection we had a really good season.”

Having started last year in blistering fashion barring a false start in Opening Round against GWS, the bar was set high externally.

But McRae insisted that to understand a full season at the top level was to understand its fluctuations – review points he and the coaching staff have gone to work on over the summer.

“The season in entirety, you can’t review it as its own entity,” he said.

“I remember last year talking about summer, then autumn and winter and spring and I think it’s the same.

“We started really, really well and we were 14-2 or whatever it was and then we had a (bad) patch, and we go ‘well why did we have that patch?’, let’s reflect on those moments.

“I know we were doing it in the moment but now we’ve got a bit more time.

“And then we had a fantastic performance in the first final against Adelaide … so we’re in the process of getting better every day but that gave us a bit of a broader look.”

Part of that has been honing in on some of the finer details embedded within a full 24-Round season and further explaining his seasonal theory.

Pointing to a period in winter last year where the Pies played consistently at Marvel Stadium, followed by a trip to the Gold Coast, McRae said lessons could be taken from the side’s preparation through that period.

“It’s funny how many little things matter,” he said.

“Then we play at Marvel and on the Gold Coast, so there’s a speed difference. We can’t train like that – these little things that you go ‘that won’t matter’.

“All these little things that you go ‘when we’re in that situation again, what are we doing?’, so we’re already starting to think futuristically.

“Also not losing sight that the back half of the year you play what turned out to be the top four teams twice.

“You can’t take those things for granted, you’re playing the best teams twice in the competition and you get stress in that."

The narrative around the Pies’ age versus experience balance was also broached by Barrett, with McRae assured in his gratitude for someone of the more tenured players at his disposal.

The likes of Scott Pendlebury and Steele Sidebottom will enter their 21st and 18th seasons respectively this year – levels of experience McRae said was invaluable for the Club’s most recent crop of draftees and younger contingent on the list.

“There’s going to be a time when there’s a statue out there of Pendles and I’m just really living in the moment with how grateful we are to have Pendles in our building,” he said.

“It’s what a young Sam Swadling gets to see of how to prepare to be a professional athlete.

“Steele Sidebottom’s still doing PBs at the moment - what (good) role-modelling for our youth.

“We’re in a transition period for some guys on our list getting an opportunity I’m not in a hurry to get these (experienced) guys out of our building for a number of reasons.

“I stand true that these guys in the building make a big difference.”

Fifth-year star Nick Daicos was also unsurprisingly part of the conversation, with McRae continually awed by the 23-year-old’s dedication to his craft.

“He keeps raising the bar on his training,” McRae said.

“He physically looks stronger, his running capability at training (is) unbelievable.

“He trains at a level that the role-modelling for others is next level.

“We’ve got such an asset and I just want to make sure we optimise and protect our asset as best we possibly can.

“We want to protect him on and off the field and love and care for him.”

While preparations for 2026 are the tall order at the moment – most pertinently next week’s Opening Round clash with St Kilda at the MCG, the ever-evolving player market is also firmly on McRae and the list management team’s mind.

With last year’s trade and free agency period perhaps the most dynamic of its kind in league history, McRae said the Club was in a strong position to discuss bringing further talent through the doors when the time comes later this year.

“We’ve got our book in order for the first time in a while,” McRae said.

“We’ll be in a position where we’ll be active.

“As a coach, I just want to continue to offer the current players hope and excitement that we’re in the game to improve.

“Our fans want that too … I can’t imagine 112,000 (members) going ‘just take your time on this’.

“We’re in the business of trying to improve ourselves.”

McRae’s side will have one final hit out this Sunday in the AAMI Community Series against North Melbourne, before another Premiership season campaign gets underway the following Sunday against the Saints.