Latest news with #CraigMcRae
News.com.au
a day ago
- Health
- News.com.au
AFL 2025: Collingwood key forward edges closer to return from injury
Collingwood forward Dan McStay is closing in on a return in the King's Birthday clash with Melbourne on Monday. McStay sustained an MCL tear to his left knee in the Magpies' win over Essendon on Anzac Day. The addition of McStay would be a timely boost to the Magpies front half after small forward Lachie Schultz injured his hamstring against Hawthorn last Friday. Collingwood coach Craig McRae says McStay's 'magnet is getting really close'. 'There's a big chance Dan will be available, we're not quite ready to announce that, he's still got a little to go, we train Friday and then again Sunday,' he said. 'But his magnet is getting really close to being considered, just a couple of little things to tick off before we can announce that.' Bobby Hill was absent from Collingwood's main training on Wednesday morning to deal with a family illness. But, barring any curveballs to his own health, McRae expects Hill to front the Dees for his 100th game. 'Bobby's wife and kids are sick, he's home looking after them, we give him compassionate leave to do those (things),' he said. 'One of our welfare team went and trained with him this afternoon, hopefully he plays his 100th game this weekend. 'At this stage, barring him getting sick, that will be the case.' The Fight MND cause extended beyond the occasion and Neale Daniher for McRae a couple of years ago, when his brother in-law, Pat, was diagnosed with MND. 'Yeah it is close to home, Pat got diagnosed literally the MND round a couple years ago,' McRae said. 'He's my wife's brother, it's a tough one, like Bec (Daniher) said, the sea blue beanies is going to offer home – that's Pat's words. 'Maybe it's not in his lifetime but there's an opportunity to pay it forward for the possibility of the future. 'The work the Daniher's have done and he's speaking to us, to hear his wisdom, his want and desire for a cure. '11 years he's been fighting this beast and every year it feels like we're getting behind it more and more.'
News.com.au
3 days ago
- General
- News.com.au
AFL 2025: Collingwood's Beau McCreery on his form and evolution as a pressure forward
It's starting to click for Collingwood pressure machine Beau McCreery. The premiership forward is in a patch of brilliant form and one of the unheralded weapons keeping the Magpies two points clear on top of the AFL ladder. McCreery says his elevation is off the back of gaining a greater understanding of his own game and his role is more complex than hitting the scoreboard. 'It's my fifth year and I've only started to figure out I don't need to kick goals to be happy with how I go,' McCreery told NewsWire. 'It doesn't have anything to do with me kicking any goals, it's just putting that pressure on. I feel like when I am at my best my pressure is there. 'People get nervous when us boys are hunting, especially us small forwards. 'If you've got me, Bobby (Hill), Shooter (Lachie Schultz), Jamie (Elliott) chasing, even Timmy (Membrey), Checkers (Brody Mihocek) – people get nervous.' McCreery is modest in his self-assessment, grading his first half of the year as 'up and down'. But the 24-year-old is recording greater numbers in almost every statistic important to a player in his position. McCreery's clearance numbers are included in that growth, which bodes well in his pursuit of becoming a more regular option in the middle for coach Craig McRae. 'When I get that midfield time I feel like I've been beasting in there,' he said. 'If I can keep getting some of that time in the mid, keep exposing myself to mid time, but I still do love playing forward. 'I love the craft of it, I love my group I am down there with, it's so enjoyable – playing for this team is just so enjoyable.' McCreery pinch hit in the middle during Friday night's dismantling of Hawthorn at the MCG. The 88-gamer is learning how challenging a transition up the ground will be but knows what he needs to do to earn more opportunity. 'Keep showing up, keep training well and when they do give me an opportunity … I figured out pretty quickly it's pretty tough in there,' he said. 'I need to take my chances when I go in there … use my speed, catch people off guard. I don't think people think I can close down space as quick as I can.'
ABC News
7 days ago
- Business
- ABC News
The reinvention of Collingwood that has helped the Magpies become the AFL's team to beat in 2025
Before the season started, Collingwood coach Craig McRae dared to be bold. He didn't want the club to recapture the form that led them to the 2023 flag. He wanted something different. "I'm keen to create a whole new version of us, a whole different feel and a whole different energy from different players," McRae said. Each year the league shifts and evolves — sometimes in subtle ways and sometimes in large. For some, like McRae, it's about staying ahead of the curve before you are bringing up the rear. "Somewhat of our system may remain the same, but what's going forward won't be on the basis of recapturing anything. We're excited for what's coming," McRae said in February. At the halfway point of the season the reborn Magpies sit in first on the ladder. Just like 2023, seventeen teams are looking up at the Pies and working out how to beat them. Five new Pies, added since their 2023 flag, are having a big impact this year alongside some other positional shifts. It has revitalised a side that missed finals last year, and added to their depth. As McRae alluded to before the season started, this new and improved version of the Pies might be a slightly different — and harder to beat — beast. Each flag tends to have a hallmark associated with it — a stamp with which the team made their mark. For Collingwood in 2023 it was their defence that was the bedrock, and their ability to attack from the back. This year has been a bit different. In 2025, the Pies have reinvigorated not only the attacking side of their forwardline, but also their ability to trap the ball up forward. Part of this has been their new charges, but a solid portion can be attributed a rededication to the importance of territory. Opposition sides have noticed this evolution. "They're a really front half team, so we're going to make sure that we're composed out of our back half and can try to get some ascendancy when we go forward," Sydney Swans coach Dean Cox said before their match-up with the Pies in Gather Round. That ability to press and trap sides can get even the most composed teams into trouble. The Pies are deadly when the ball is spilled on the deck, especially through the middle of the ground. They are the fourth best team at scoring from the front half this year. They also concede fewer points from their back half than almost any side. That Pies trap becomes perpetual — with teams struggling to move the ball up the ground and Collingwood slowly capitalising. McRae's side leads the league in turnover scoring differential, with their +22 points per game almost a goal higher than Adelaide in second. Some sides have tried to be extra cautious when moving the ball against the Pies from the backline, with some success at times. North tried this last weekend, dropping their speed on transition to prioritise retaining the ball. It worked well — for a half. "We're really proud to be able to hang in there when the game wasn't quite looking how we wanted to play," McRae said post match. "Particularly our pressure was important and then take away some of their uncontested marks" After halftime the Pies upped their pressure on the ball and focused on their structure. This forced North to play catch up — exactly where the Pies wanted them. Even with several players out, the system can hold up strongly. "They had a lot of their important players out of their side too — which is (a) testament to them as a club in terms of the way they play their system and their game plan," Kangaroos coach Alastair Clarkson told the media after their loss. The personnel change has also paid dividends in both improving the share of the ball in the front half but also their efficiency when scoring. "You know the system gets the goal. That's what we always talk about," McRae said. Lachie Schultz and Tim Membrey have added an extra dimension to a deadly — if slightly undersized — forward line. Space, pace and pressure are the key elements in play for the Pies' ability to score. Schultz is leading the league in forward 50 tackles per game, sitting easily at a career best mark for this measure. He has converted to a pressure role that he only hinted at when he played at Fremantle. Schultz and a quartet of pacey medium-sized targets also are able to find the space to take at least one mark on the lead per game. The redesigned forwardline is front and centre of the "new" Collingwood, but it's far from the only improved part. Usually there's a balance between the intercept game and the clearance game. When one improves, the other tends to dip a little. In 2023, the Pies were the second most deadly team from clearances, scoring an extra 7.5 points per game than their opponents from stoppages. So with the Pies increased focus on front half you would expect them to win less of the ball in the clinches. But you would be wrong. This year Collingwood is winning an extra clearance per game relative to their opponents than they did in 2023. Their potency from stoppages has dropped a tiny bit (going from +7.5 to +4.6 in scoring differential per game) but the indications are that their clearance game has held up. They've also done so with a pretty different group from two years ago. In 2023, the five Pies with the most clearances were Jordan De Goey, Tom Mitchell, Scott Pendlebury, Nick Daicos and Taylor Adams. Only two of those five are in the top five for Collingwood this year. Adams is now in Sydney, while Mitchell hasn't played yet. De Goey has yet to find his groove in the middle, and Pendlebury is a smaller part of the mix. The mix has been supplanted by a veteran — Steele Sidebottom — and one of the most unlikely finds this year, Ned Long. McRae has been quick and willing to sing the praises of Long, who came to the Pies after being delisted from the Hawthorn rookie list. Week by week he's becoming more important to the Collingwood midfield mix. The broad principles are the same — running in patterns down the ground, and looking for territory rather than just clean possession. But the new group seems better balanced — better able to maximise the strengths of Nick Daicos, and better able to defend opposition clearances. This might all be for nought if their biggest strength from 2023 had faded. But their defence is still as rock solid as ever. "You know, defensively, they're the top two or three in the competition," Cox said. Led by captain Darcy Moore, the Collingwood defence is still the backbone of their operation and what affords the players ahead the freedom to operate. They've even bolstered their ball movement with the recruitment of Dan Houston and Harry Perryman, allowing the rest of the defence more latitude to focus on the defensive side of their game. Perryman sits second for score launches at Collingwood — behind just Darcy Cameron. Schultz, Long and Houston all sit in the top 10 in this measure as well. All four have significantly contributed to an improved sense of attack from defence and freed up others to play their roles more effectively to limit scoring. While their midfield and forward line is getting a lot of the attention, McRae acknowledges the importance of their backline. "Our backs have been enormous to stop scoring. (If) they don't score when they go in there that's a big part of the game," McRae said after their win over Adelaide. McRae also alluded to the value of the defence in opening up the rest of their game. "Then you go to the other end and we're scoring quite efficiently. You know — nearly 50 per cent of the time we go inside 50. So it's a good formula," he said. This completeness and cohesiveness is what is pushing this version of the Pies to being the team to beat halfway through the year — and maybe even better than the 2023 version. "Their depth and understanding and the spirit that they drive from that has been first class. That's why they've been premiers a couple of years ago and they're going to be pretty hard to stop this year." Clarkson said last week. "They're the benchmark of the comp. "
News.com.au
27-05-2025
- Sport
- News.com.au
AFL 2025: Collingwood set for major reinforcements for its clash with Hawthorn on Friday
The Collingwood cavalry is coming. The already red-hot Magpies will welcome back stars Bobby Hill, Darcy Moore, Steele Sidebottom, Scott Pendlebury and Lachie Schultz for their bout with Hawthorn on Friday. Hill (personal), Sidebottom (managed) and Pendlebury (illness) all missed just one match, while Moore and Schultz have missed the past two. The key absences have had little impact on 'Fly's Pies', with brilliant wins over Adelaide and North Melbourne in the last fortnight. The Hawks, meanwhile, have suffered losses to Gold Coast and Brisbane across the same stretch. Collingwood coach Craig McRae understands the risk of major changes but is rapt to welcome back 'some really important magnets'. 'That could be a cost (changes) but the reward is we've got experience around some roles we really rate,' he said. 'We've got a coach connection every week, it's not something we take for granted – team chemistry is really important to us. 'I think there's a reality some would know that, it's not so much last in last out, that doesn't work like that, but we want to keep rewarding behaviour around here. 'Guys playing really well at VFL level like Wil Parker has been doing, got his chance and showed he's capable at the level. Those conversations are always difficult but again you're having many and more along the way.' Brownlow medallist Tom Mitchell is unlikely to be added to the senior squad despite his improving form in the VFL. Mitchell, returning from injury, has played the past three matches in the twos. A discussion with Mitchell about his timeline is high on McRae's priority list as he feels the ball winner remains at least a fortnight away. 'I went and watched the VFL on Sunday (and) it was a tough game. When you're taking guys out last minute, there's a ripple effect to that,' he said. 'Tom, I've got to have a chat to him this afternoon, but I think he's a couple of weeks away at least.' Superstar Nick Daicos ran riot after half time last week against North Melbourne to finish with a match-shaping 38 disposals. Hawthorn has employed tagger Finn Maginness to Daicos to some effect in recent years and McRae expects the Hawks to double down on that tactic on Friday. 'We anticipate Maginness will go to (Daicos), last time they played him as a sub and he didn't come on until the game was all over,' he said. 'We anticipate that may happen again.'
Yahoo
24-05-2025
- Sport
- Yahoo
Maynard hobbled as depleted Magpies swamp North late
Brayden Maynard is the latest Collingwood veteran hobbled by injury after their depleted AFL lineup blew away North Melbourne. While Magpies coach Craig McRae expects to welcome back some players for Friday night's match against Hawthorn, he said Maynard will need scans after a planta fascia problem flared early in Saturday night's win. Maynard was subbed out of the game in the first quarter at Marvel Stadium, with McRae calling it an "actual incident". It left the Magpies in early trouble after Scott Pendlebury (illness) and Bobby Hill (personal reasons) were late withdrawals on Saturday afternoon. Maynard was also rested from the away match against Fremantle two weekends ago because of his foot problem. "He's been having symptoms of that for a while now ... but this is an actual incident that's caused some sort of trouble there, so we'll have to wait and see." Darcy Moore, Lachie Schultz and Jordan De Goey were among other senior Collingwood players sidelined for the 15.18 (108) to 9.9 (63) win over North. "It's a pretty impressive rehab group we have at the moment and most of them will be available next week, which is exciting," McRae said. In their absence, Nick and Josh Daicos starred and Jamie Elliott kicked five goals to spearhead the win. Collingwood's lesser lights also impressed - Oleg Markov was at Bunnings on Saturday when McRae rang to draft him into the side at the last minute, while Ed Allan and Will Parker also played their roles well. Ned Long continued to shine in the midfield, racking up 15 score involvements, and defender Billy Frampton made some crucial spoils when North were pressing in the first half. After a tight game, Collingwood blew North away with eight goals to one in the final quarter. "The most significant message is you have to play four quarter, boys - you can't just play three," said Kangaroos coach Alastair Clarkson. He also heaped praise on Nick Daicos, who dominated after a quiet first half. "In the last quarter he was the superior player on the ground, really," Clarkson said. "That's his capability. We did a good job to curtail his influence in the first half, but we couldn't do it in the second. "For his age, I'm not sure I've seen a player come in and make as big an impact in his first couple of years and then maintain that high, high standard. "It's a little bit scary, thinking he might still play for another dozen years. He's a pretty special footballer, his brother's not too bad either."
