Collingwood Senior Coach Craig McRae has addressed the media ahead of his side’s Opening Round clash with St Kilda this Sunday evening.
The game will close out the first week of the 2026 season, with a big crowd expected for the only game in Melbourne for the weekend.
In what will be his 100th game in charge of the black and white, McRae expressed his excitement at getting another campaign underway and explained a few team decisions on the back of Thursday night’s squad selection.
Key forward confirmed for Club debut
“Jack will play his first game, so we have a Club debutant,” McRae said.
“Jack will play his first game for the Club which is always exciting.
“He’s going to offer some real competitive nature for our fans and I’m sure we’ve seen little samples of that.
“He gets recruited for a reason and he competes hard.
“He’s a competitive guy and well liked already.”
Updates on a key injured defensive duo
“I think he (Darcy Moore) is getting closer. He’s had a good body of work now – probably three weeks of solid training and I’d be surprised if his name’s not in conversation for next week,” he said.
“I think he (Jeremy Howe) might be post-bye (Round 2) … he’s another one pressing for opportunity.
“Clearly you take Darcy out and Howie out and there’s holes, but we’d like to think we’ve got a system that we’ve shown over a number of years and we’ll play according to that.
“We might look a little undersized at times, but we’ve got a system that we think will support that.”
Coming up against a new-look Saints
“It’s Christmas day for them they’ve got their new toys so that’s their story,” he said.
“The expectation rises for all of us and there’s five or six new players so I think they’ll be wanting to come and put on a bit of a show for them.
“We’ve just got to be ready for what that is. We’re well aware that Ross (Lyon) will have some tricks up his sleeve to create some form of strategy against us or for them.
“I’m just wrapped to be part of this game.”
On the pre-season matches
“We had a plan for the pre-season games that we’d try expose as many players on our list for opportunities,” he said.
“That was the plan and it turns out that we didn’t have 10 of our best players … but we feel really comfortable in that with the exposure.
“We go ‘hang on a minute, these guys look like they’ve got something they can offer our fans and ourselves’ and I’m sure this season like many others, there’s going to be a squad mentality.”
Youngsters on the brink of selection
“There’s no debutants, but some that are really close though,” he said.
“Oscar (Steene) and Joel Cochran showed some really good signs over the pre-season.
“We might’ve gained a couple of magnets there that are close to the team.”
On his AFL Life Membership and 100th game as Senior Coach
“I tried to celebrate the other night, Life Membership … I grew up in Adelaide just loving that game and here I am a Life Member of the game,” he said.
“30 years in footy, I don’t take it for granted. I’m really grateful to get to work on my hobby.
“This will be my 100th game but no one celebrates coach’s milestones.
“Again, I don’t take it for granted, this Club has offered me so much.”
