Collingwood coach Craig McRae likes to get his creative juices flowing each week.
While it’s a time-consuming task that can take up to 12 hours, McRae each week creates a highlight package for his playing group to watch before they run out on game days.
Funnily enough, McRae says the hardest aspect of his hobby is finding the perfect backing track for his weekly video.
“I do a highlights tape every week for the players,” McRae told SEN The Run Home.
“I have a creative brain. When I get space to (create), I think I can be quite creative.
“Finding a song is the hardest thing. After doing it for a few years, I go, ‘Oh, I’m running out of songs (laughs)’.
“But yeah, a lot of work goes on behind the scenes.”
While it’s made for the playing group, McRae says he does it just as much for himself as the task energises him, much to the annoyance of his wife.
“I find I get energy from those things,” McRae said.
“You get excitement, and you want players to have the energy to do things, that sort of stuff - as much as my wife hates me sitting on the computer and doing highlights tapes - that gives me energy.”
McRae says the video is shown to the players after the pre-match meeting, with the ritual becoming one of the highlights of the week.
“When the players get in, they see it before they run out on the ground,” McRae said.
“I should film that one day … once I’m finished my meeting, this is on game day (we show them the video), they (the players) go bananas.
“The highlights tape normally goes for the length of a song, but (working on) the presentation, it could take me anywhere from six to eight to 12 hours.
“But on match day, it's three or four minutes of footage plus storytelling, and then we finish with the video, the highlights.”
Who knows what McRae has cooked up for the players to watch ahead of their big clash on Sunday afternoon against Adelaide at the MCG?
Oh, to be a fly on the wall of the Collingwood change room.
"Finding a song is the hardest thing."
— Andy & Gazey (@TheRunHomeSEN) June 22, 2023
Craig McRae spends a lot of time getting hype reels made for all of his players! #AFL pic.twitter.com/TfN3p5eNph