‘Missed his friendship’: Pies coach’s difficult parting from ‘incredible mentor’

Craig McRae, the coach of Collingwood, says the Magpies would consider if holding off on Graham Wright’s replacement was a costly mistake in their disastrous premiership defence.

As the Pies head into the final round with an 11-2-9 record, the Magpies need to defeat Melbourne by almost 100 points and have Carlton or Hawthorn lose by a same amount to guarantee a miraculous finals berth.

In order to fill the hole left by Wright, McRae claimed coaching directors Brendon Bolton and Justin Leppitsch had “probably done two or three jobs” apiece this season.

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‘Gut-wrenching decision’ explained by Scott | 01:26
After winning the 2023 Premiership, the Collingwood football manager took a break, but he made it clear last weekend that he would not be returning to his position with the team.

According to McRae, the team would “delve deep” into any potential effects the football department reorganisation may have had on the team’s performance on the pitch.

Last season, Collingwood football manager Graham Wright (left) parted ways with coach Craig McRae. Image: Michael Klein
Last season, Collingwood football manager Graham Wright (left) parted ways with coach Craig McRae. Image: Michael Klein
News Corp Australia is the source.
“Just for me, I believe he has been missed greatly. We hook up socially frequently and chat all the time. His wife and my wife are also really close. I’m really good friends with him,” McRae remarked.

“His companionship has been missed. We’ve had an amazing experience replacing Wrighty. Brendon Bolton, who is standing in for him on the side, has really stepped up and taken on a lot of extra work; he’s probably completed two or three works. Justin Leppitsch has also done a great job.

“After considering these, we’ll ask ourselves, ‘How do you measure some of this stuff?'”How it affected the results this season is difficult to predict, but we’ll think about everything.

McRae gave Wright credit for resolving the team’s pay cap issues, which resulted in the agonising trades of studs like Adam Treloar and Brodie Grundy.

“I would like to utilise this chance to ensure that everyone is aware of Graham Wright’s exceptional contribution to this football team,” he stated.

He really did put a lot of work into improving this property before I came here.

In addition to working hard to get the pay cap and the list in a position where we could be truly competitive, he was also a fantastic mentor to me when I was first starting out as a senior coach. The fact that he hired me was another positive aspect.

Ed Allan has a good chance of being called up for Friday night’s senior match against Melbourne, according to McRae. Michael Willson / Getty Images photo
Ed Allan has a good chance of being called up for Friday night’s senior match against Melbourne, according to McRae. Michael Willson / Getty Images photo
Getty Images is the source.
After Daniel McStay pulled up sore following the victory over his previous team, Brisbane, the Magpies coach decided not to include him in Friday night’s match.

After a successful month in the VFL, he argued that Ed Allan should be selected, and Scott Pendlebury may also be rested.

“Maybe (we rest a few players)…” Dan McStay is a bit sore and won’t play, but we believe it’s an amazing tale that he can play AFL football again after a knee reconstruction that took seven or eight months.

“We simply asked ourselves, ‘Why would we push him to the queue?'” He’s not one to play, so let’s take care of him. I’m not sure if there will be many (changes).

“Players won’t be given any games to “give” A few young individuals who have extremely good form at the VFL level will be the subject of a lot of discussion.

Specifically, Ed Allan’s performance over the past four weeks has been excellent.