2 years ago
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When Craig McRae arrived astatine Collingwood past September, helium recovered a nine that appeared to beryllium good and genuinely breached to outsiders.
Having travel wrong a footwear of their 16th premiership successful 2018, the Magpies had gone from being near-flag favourites successful 2019 to being retired of the finals wholly conscionable 2 years later.
The wheels had not lone travel disconnected connected the field, but disconnected it arsenic well, with the Do Better Report into a civilization of systemic racism astatine the nine swiftly followed by the departure of long-time president Eddie McGuire and the club's favourite son, senior coach, Nathan Buckley.
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Fast guardant 12 months and McRae was deservingly voted by his peers arsenic the manager of the year, up of the 2 men coaching successful Saturday's expansive final, Sydney manager John Longmire and Geelong's Chris Scott.
It has been an astounding archetypal twelvemonth astatine the helm for McRae, whose Magpies were cruelly beaten by 1 constituent successful a thrilling preliminary last past Saturday by the Swans.
Collingwood's improbable tally to the preliminary last was made much awesome by the information that it was done with two-time All-Australian big antheral Brodie Grundy successful thoroughfare clothes.
Grundy did not play different crippled aft starring connected Anzac Day, with a PCL wounded followed by an ankle wounded ruining his season, and the large antheral admitted seeing his teammates thrive without him was "bittersweet".
Speculation has swirled astir the league astir the 28-year-old's future, with the nine reportedly keen connected getting his monster wage disconnected its books.
However, sitting connected the sidelines has lone made Grundy's emotion for the nine stronger.
"Collingwood's an astonishing nine which I haven't got to afloat experience what it's similar connected the different side," helium told Wide World of Sports.
"I've been connected the ground, but to beryllium connected the different broadside of the obstruction and seeing the passionateness of our supporters, it fills you with truthful overmuch pride. You genuinely realise erstwhile you're immersed successful determination however overmuch this means to people."
Despite lone playing six games nether McRae, Grundy was instantly impressed by what his caller elder manager brought to the table.
"Fly (McRae) came successful and truly wanted to galvanise everyone successful a absorption and astir apt did that by going backmost and learning much astir our past and spending clip astatine Victoria Park and giving everyone a assemblage connection arsenic well," helium said.
"I've valued that due to the fact that shot is 1 thing, but having that acquisition connected the different side, it means truthful overmuch to truthful galore people.
"Supporters would beryllium truly blessed to cognize that their caput manager is reasoning of them."
Grundy credited McRae's "strength-based" coaching attack arsenic the catalyst for a fig of Collingwood's younger players enjoying career-best seasons.
"Since he's travel on, he's idiosyncratic that's wanted to instrumentality the crippled connected and that's each connected the backmost of players playing to their strengths," helium said.
"The biggest happening that I've noted is he starts each gathering by reaffirming our values and our DNA.
"It's not each astir kicks, marks and handballs, but astir however helium wants america to transportation ourselves, and you saw that successful his comments astir not being losers and wanting to enactment similar winners. He's truly each astir reinforcing behaviours.
"His coaching, having been successful that improvement role, means helium understands the processing subordinate and what it takes to get them to beryllium astatine their best.
"He's precise process-driven and level-headed and he's bully astatine communicating the values of the team. He's bully astatine getting everyone connected the aforesaid page."
One of the players who has flourished nether McRae's guiding manus has been 22-year-old defender Isaac Quaynor, who spent his archetypal 3 seasons nether Buckley.
Quaynor, who made a career-high 24 appearances this season, said McRae was a modern manager who was perfectly suited to the young Magpies team.
"He steers the vessel successful a truly calm way, but erstwhile helium needs to, helium tin springiness a spot of a spray," helium said.
"I deliberation that's important and I deliberation that resonates with a batch of america players. We've got a truly young group, truthful perchance that older fashioned mode of coaching doesn't resonate arsenic much.
"I deliberation helium (Fly) conscionable gets the champion retired of each of america and he's done an unbelievable occupation successful nether 12 months."
When asked however to picture the Magpies' chaotic ride, which featured an unthinkable 11-game winning streak, Quaynor had 1 word: "Fun."
"It's been fun. I've had a batch of fun," helium said.
"What (the coaching staff) person been capable to do, the civilization they've been capable to create, it's family-like.
"It sounds a spot cliche, but everyone conscionable plays for each other. We're similar brothers retired there.
"We conscionable each emotion getting to enactment unneurotic and putting the unit connected and doing what we do."
Under McRae, Collingwood's quality to grind retired wins successful tightly-contested matches became uncanny. Although they were unable to implicit different heist successful past weekend's preliminary final, the accelerated decorativeness provided much grounds of their composure successful tense situations.
"We bid it a lot, I deliberation you've got to extremity the chapeau to coaching staff," Quaynor said of Collingwood's composure successful choky matches.
"Fly, Leppa (Justin Leppitsch), Skip (Hayden Skipworth), that full cohort, Bolts (Brendon Bolton), they bash a large occupation of schooling america and catering to each antithetic ways of learning something.
"Whether it's visual, done penning it down, done one-on-one, we conscionable spell implicit it again and again. We've been successful a batch of close-game positions and we've done it, truthful we're conscionable learning each week."
Collingwood whitethorn person been denied this clip around, but with McRae's dependable manus guiding a clump of the league's astir breathtaking cores, the eventual occurrence whitethorn not beryllium that acold away.
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