Caroline Wilson has reported that Carlton officials approached Collingwood to learn more about the Pies’ process that culminated in Craig McRae’s appointment as head coach.
Collingwood has been widely lauded for the approach they took to find the new senior coach while Carlton’s approach has garnered the opposite reaction.
Despite the long-standing rivalry between the two clubs, Wilson believes the Blues tried to understand some of the “intellectual property” of Collingwood’s process.
“In a bizarre twist, there have been people at Carlton who have approached people at Collingwood about their process which we were quite complimentary of last week when Craig McRae got the job,” Wilson told Channel 9’s Footy Classified.
“I’m told Paul Licuria might have put it to Collingwood that the way Collingwood handled itself might be shared with Carlton.
“I don’t think anything’s come Carlton’s way.”
Wilson went on to outline the Pies’ approach that landed them McRae, which Matthew Lloyd believed sounded “not that hard”.
“The Collingwood football club appointed a sub-committee, one of whom came from outside but was a former player in Luke Ball, it was headed by Graham Wright who ran it and a lot of candidates were interviewed,” Wilson added.
“They got down to a shortlist of three or four, and out of that they identified Craig McRae.”
Ross Lyon believed Carlton may have tried to right old mistakes by looking to Collingwood for help.
“I would think your footy operations people are responsible for driving that process,” he said.
“Your football director and President are supportive.
“(But) those people probably ran the process last time, so they’re probably looking for improvement.”
The Blues are looking to appoint a coach in the weeks after the AFL Grand Final, with Brad Scott rumoured to be in strong contention.