Veteran journalist Caroline Wilson has criticised Collingwood coach Craig McRae following his press conference after last Thursday’s loss to St Kilda.
The reigning premiers find themselves in a hole to start their flag defence with an unenviable 0-3 record.
As is generally the case when a good team falls out of form, frustration begins to creep in as they go about trying to fix the problems that have caused their shortcomings.
While watching McRae address the media at the MCG in Round 2, Wilson noticed that the 2023 premiership coach spoke solely about himself and the Pies, rather than giving the Saints and Ross Lyon any credit for their win.
“Craig McRae’s media performance after Collingwood’s loss last Thursday night reflected a ‘me, me, me’ mentality that has permeated that football club as it continues to celebrate that brilliant premiership victory,” Wilson said on Channel 9’s Footy Classified.
“In fact McRae, who has always been so impressive publicly, achieved something you don’t often witness from a losing coach.
“He said: ‘Individually, what can I do? If there’s something gone wrong, I look at what I’ve contributed to that first. I look in and I go alright, how do I fix this? What can I do better? How did I prepare the players? Were they set up to succeed?
“‘I look internally and then I start to go ‘what else?’ What you see in front of you is a guy who hates closing, absolutely hates losing. So I sit here edgy and like ‘C’mon, let’s get busy’, but what you don’t see is there joy, happiness, love and support for our players and staff.
“‘I make sure that everyone in that room felt my love and support’.”
"Craig McRae's media performance after Collingwood's loss last Thursday night reflected a 'me, me, me' mentality that has permeated that football club"
— Footy on Nine (@FootyonNine) March 25, 2024
Caro arrows the Magpies coach 🏹#9FootyClassified | Nine & 9Now 🖥️ pic.twitter.com/EF4X166GbH
Wilson continued, highlighting McRae’s apparent evasion of praise for his opposition.
“I’m not sure I can remember the last time I saw a losing coach speak for more than 12 minutes and not pay one word of credit to the opposition,” she added.
“In fact, if there hadn’t been questions about the Jack Higgins goal and the relative lead-up of the two teams going into the game, you would have been forgiven for thinking Collingwood was playing itself.
“Perhaps there’s something in that.
“For the record St Kilda won the game, Spud’s Game, and perhaps applied some pressure that led to those Collingwood mistakes.
“There’s self-reflection and there’s sportsmanship.”
Wilson’s panel colleagues Craig Hutchison, Kane Cornes and Matthew Lloyd all questioned her opinion.
However, she stood by what she said even if she believes McRae would be “horrified to hear” the criticism.
“I’ve never seen that,” Wilson said.
“I’ve spoken to other people, because I was shocked by it, and other people agree.
“This is why I think there is a malaise at Collingwood that he’s somehow caught wind of.
“He’d be horrified to hear this. I’m sure he’s a great sport and as I said he’s always been impressive publicly.
“At one point he had to say, ‘Full credit to St Kilda. What they did, the pressure they applied’, or something.
“There wasn’t one mention.”
McRae and the Pies will be intent on opening their 2024 account when they meet the winless Brisbane Lions in a Grand Final reprise at the Gabba this Thursday night.
