Craig McRae (born 22 September 1973) is a former

Australian rules football Australian football, also called Australian rules football or Aussie rules, or more simply football or footy, is a contact sport played between two teams of 18 players on an Australian rules football playing field, oval field, often a modified ...

er and the current senior coach of the

Collingwood Football Club The Collingwood Football Club, nicknamed the Magpies or colloquially the Pies, is a professional Australian rules football club based in Melbourne, Victoria that competes in the Australian Football League (AFL), the sport's elite competition. ...

Playing career

Glenelg Football Club

McRae played for

Glenelg Football Club The Glenelg Football Club, nicknamed the Tigers or the Bays, is an Australian rules football team which plays in the South Australian National Football League. Their home ground is Stratarama Stadium (formerly Glenelg Oval), located in the so ...

in the

SANFL The South Australian National Football League, or SANFL ( or ''S-A-N-F-L''), is an Australian rules football league based in the Australian state of South Australia. It is also the state's sports governing body, governing body for the sport. ...

from 1993 until 1994, for a total of 41 games and 59 goals.

Brisbane Bears

McRae was drafted by

AFL AFL may refer to: Education * Angel Foundation for Learning, a Canadian Roman Catholic charity * Ankara Science High School, a high school in Ankara, Turkey, natively referred to as ''Ankara Fen Liesi'' * Assessment for learning Military * ...

club

Brisbane Bears The Brisbane Bears were a professional Australian rules football club based in Brisbane, Queensland, Brisbane, Queensland, now known as the Brisbane Lions. Granted a Australian Football League, Victorian Football League (VFL), licence in 1986, ...

as the 22nd pick in the 1994 draft and had an immediate impact, kicking two goals in his first game in 1995, and played every game of that year. McRae was known for his ability to kick goals from beyond the fifty-metre line, his fierce tackling, and his scouting of the ball spilled from the hands of taller players. He played for the Brisbane Bears from 1995 until 1996 for a total of 39 games and 56 goals.

Brisbane Lions

At the end of the 1996 season, when Brisbane Bears merged with Fitzroy Lions resulting in the formation of the

Brisbane Lions The Brisbane Lions are a professional Australian rules football in Australia, Australian rules football club based in Brisbane, Queensland, that compete in the Australian Football League (AFL), the sport's elite competition. Brisbane are the ...

, McRae was one of the players from the Bears to join the Lions. He played for the Brisbane Lions from 1997 until 2004 for a total of 156 games and 176 goals. He was a member of Brisbane Lions' 2001, 2002 and 2003 premiership sides. McRae retired from professional football after the 2004 Grand Final loss to

Port Adelaide Port Adelaide is a port-side region of Adelaide, approximately northwest of the Adelaide city centre, Adelaide CBD. It is also the namesake of the City of Port Adelaide Enfield council, a suburb, a federal and state electoral division and is t ...

Coaching career

Richmond Football Club assistant coach (2007–2009)

In 2007, McRae served as assistant coach in the role of Player Development Coach with the

Richmond Football Club The Richmond Football Club, nicknamed the Tigers or colloquially the Tiges, is a professional Australian rules football team competing in the Australian Football League (AFL). Founded in 1885 in the Melbourne suburb of Richmond, Victoria, Ric ...

under senior coach

Terry Wallace Terry Wallace (born 13 December 1958) is a former professional Australian rules football player and coach. As a player, his career spanned three VFL/AFL clubs; most notably Hawthorn where he played in three premierships. After one season with ...

. Midway through the 2009 AFL season, McRae took up the head coaching position at Richmond's VFL affiliate club

Coburg Coburg ( , ) is a Town#Germany, town located on the Itz (river), Itz river in the Upper Franconia region of Bavaria, Germany. Long part of one of the Thuringian states of the Ernestine duchies, Wettin line, it joined Bavaria by popular vote only ...

, when their former coach and fellow Richmond AFL assistant Jade Rawlings was appointed caretaker senior coach at Richmond, after Wallace resigned in the middle of the 2009 AFL season after Round 11, 2009.

Brisbane Lions assistant coach (2010)

In 2010, McRae took up an assistant coaching position in the role of development coach position at the

, returning to his old playing club under senior coach and former teammate

Michael Voss Michael Voss (born 7 July 1975) is a former professional Australian rules football player with the Brisbane Bears and Brisbane Lions, and current senior coach of the Carlton Football Club in the Australian Football League (AFL). Voss was a tr ...

Collingwood Football Club assistant coach (2011–2016)

McRae joined as an assistant coach in the role as head of development in 2011 under senior coach

Mick Malthouse Michael Raymond Malthouse (born 17 August 1953) is a former Australian rules footballer and coach, who played for the St Kilda Football Club and Richmond Football Club in the Victorian Football League (VFL). After finishing his playing career, ...

and then under senior coach

Nathan Buckley Nathan Charles Buckley (born 26 July 1972) is a former professional Australian rules football coach, player and commentator. He is listed by journalist Mike Sheahan as one of the top 50 players of all time. Buckley won the inaugural Rising S ...

from 2012. He remained at the club for five seasons.

Richmond Football Club assistant coach (2017–2020)

He returned to Richmond at the end of the 2016 season, serving as an assistant coach under senior coach

Damien Hardwick Damien Patrick Hardwick (born 18 August 1972) is a current Australian rules football coach and former player who is the head coach of the Gold Coast Suns in the Australian Football League. He is the former senior coach of the Richmond Football ...

and head coach of the club's reserves side in the VFL. He took the side to a losing grand final in 2017, before winning a premiership in 2019 and winning the VFL's coach of the year award and the AFL coaches' association's assistant coach of the year award.

Hawthorn Football Club assistant coach (2021)

In 2021, McRae joined the

Hawthorn Football Club The Hawthorn Football Club, nicknamed the Hawks, is a professional Australian rules football club based in Mulgrave, Victoria, that competes in the Australian Football League (AFL). The club was founded in 1902 in the inner-east suburb of Hawth ...

as an assistant coach in the role of forward line coach under senior coach

Alastair Clarkson Alastair Thomas Clarkson (born 27 April 1968) is an Australian rules football coach and former player. He is currently the head coach of the North Melbourne Football Club in the Australian Football League (AFL) and was previously head coach of t ...

Collingwood Football Club senior coach (2022–present)

In September 2021, McRae returned to the

, when he was appointed as senior coach ahead of the

2022 AFL season The 2022 AFL season was the 126th season of the Australian Football League (AFL), the highest-level senior men's Australian rules football competition in Australia, which was known as the Victorian Football League until 1989. The season featur ...

. McRae replaced caretaker senior coach Robert Harvey, who replaced

after Buckley stepped down in the middle of the 2021 season. In his first season as senior coach, he led Collingwood to success, winning 16 games and finishing the 2022 season in 4th place after finishing 17th the previous season. Out of their wins, 11 were by less than two goals. In the

finals series Final, Finals or The Final may refer to: *Final examination or finals, a test given at the end of a course of study or training *Final (competition), the last or championship round of a sporting competition, match, game, or other contest which d ...

, Collingwood reached the preliminary finals, where they lost to

Sydney Sydney is the capital city of the States and territories of Australia, state of New South Wales and the List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city in Australia. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Syd ...

by one point after trailing by 23 points at the beginning of the last quarter. The following year, McRae coached Coached Collingwood to its 20th minor premiership with 18 wins. On Saturday, 30 September 2023, Collingwood won by 4 points against the

in the 2023 AFL Grand Final, giving the club its 16th premiership and their first since

2010 The year saw a multitude of natural and environmental disasters such as the 2010 Haiti earthquake, the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, and the 2010 Chile earthquake. The 2009 swine flu pandemic, swine flu pandemic which began the previous year ...

, and making McRae a premiership coach.

Statistics

Playing statistics

, - ,

1995 1995 was designated as: * United Nations Year for Tolerance * World Year of Peoples' Commemoration of the Victims of the Second World War This was the first year that the Internet was entirely privatized, with the United States government ...

, , , , 4 , 23 , , 28 , , 22 , , 231 , , 113 , , 344 , , 47 , , 38 , , 1.2 , , 1.0 , , 10.0 , , 4.9 , , 15.0 , , 2.0 , , 1.7 , , 1 , - ,

1996 1996 was designated as: * International Year for the Eradication of Poverty Events January * January 8 – A Zairean cargo plane crashes into a crowded market in the center of the capital city of the Democratic Republic of the Congo ...

, , , , 4 , 16 , , 28 , , 19 , , 181 , , 49 , , 230 , , 38 , , 18 , , 1.8 , , 1.2 , , 11.3 , , 3.1 , , 14.4 , , 2.4 , , 1.1 , , 1 , - ,

1997 Events January * January 1 – The Emergency Alert System is introduced in the United States. * January 11 – Turkey threatens Cyprus on account of a deal to buy Russian S-300 missiles, prompting the Cypriot Missile Crisis. * January 1 ...

, , , , 4 , 18 , , 19 , , 16 , , 172 , , 70 , , 242 , , 42 , , 27 , , 1.1 , , 0.9 , , 9.6 , , 3.9 , , 13.4 , , 2.3 , , 1.5 , , 2 , - ,

1998 1998 was designated as the ''International Year of the Ocean''. Events January * January 6 – The ''Lunar Prospector'' spacecraft is launched into orbit around the Moon, and later finds evidence for Lunar water, frozen water, in soil i ...

, , , , 4 , 16 , , 13 , , 15 , , 150 , , 79 , , 229 , , 48 , , 17 , , 0.8 , , 0.9 , , 9.4 , , 4.9 , , 14.3 , , 3.0 , , 1.1 , , 0 , - ,

1999 1999 was designated as the International Year of Older Persons. Events January * January 1 – The euro currency is established and the European Central Bank assumes its full powers. * January 3 – The Mars Polar Lander is launc ...

, , , , 4 , 24 , , 41 , , 32 , , 267 , , 73 , , 340 , , 69 , , 37 , , 1.7 , , 1.3 , , 11.1 , , 3.0 , , 14.2 , , 2.9 , , 1.5 , , 3 , - ,

2000 2000 was designated as the International Year for the Culture of Peace and the World Mathematics, Mathematical Year. Popular culture holds the year 2000 as the first year of the 21st century and the 3rd millennium, because of a tende ...

, , , , 4 , 16 , , 9 , , 11 , , 164 , , 69 , , 233 , , 48 , , 28 , , 0.6 , , 0.7 , , 10.3 , , 4.3 , , 14.6 , , 3.0 , , 1.8 , , 2 , - , scope=row bgcolor=F0E68C ,

2001 The year's most prominent event was the September 11 attacks against the United States by al-Qaeda, which Casualties of the September 11 attacks, killed 2,977 people and instigated the global war on terror. The United States led a Participan ...

^# , , , , 4 , 19 , , 21 , , 20 , , 145 , , 64 , , 209 , , 52 , , 28 , , 1.1 , , 1.1 , , 7.6 , , 3.4 , , 11.0 , , 2.7 , , 1.5 , , 0 , - , scope=row bgcolor=F0E68C ,

2002 The effects of the September 11 attacks of the previous year had a significant impact on the affairs of 2002. The war on terror was a major political focus. Without settled international law, several nations engaged in anti-terror operation ...

^# , , , , 4 , 24 , , 29 , , 27 , , 193 , , 108 , , 301 , , 61 , , 66 , , 1.2 , , 1.1 , , 8.0 , , 4.5 , , 12.5 , , 2.5 , , 2.8 , , 1 , - , scope=row bgcolor=F0E68C ,

2003 2003 was designated by the United Nations as the International Year of Fresh water, Freshwater. In 2003, a Multi-National Force – Iraq, United States-led coalition 2003 invasion of Iraq, invaded Iraq, starting the Iraq War. Demographic ...

^# , , , , 4 , 20 , , 26 , , 17 , , 132 , , 79 , , 211 , , 34 , , 62 , , 1.3 , , 0.9 , , 6.6 , , 4.0 , , 10.6 , , 1.7 , , 3.1 , , 0 , - ,

2004 2004 was designated as an International Year of Rice by the United Nations, and the International Year to Commemorate the Struggle Against Slavery and Its Abolition (by UNESCO). Events January * January 3 – Flash Airlines Flight 60 ...

, , , , 4 , 19 , , 18 , , 17 , , 124 , , 58 , , 182 , , 38 , , 41 , , 0.9 , , 0.9 , , 6.5 , , 3.1 , , 9.6 , , 2.0 , , 2.2 , , 1 , - class=sortbottom ! colspan=3 , Career ! 195 !! 232 !! 196 !! 1759 !! 762 !! 2521 !! 477 !! 362 !! 1.2 !! 1.0 !! 9.0 !! 3.9 !! 12.9 !! 2.4 !! 1.9 !! 11

Head coaching record

Honours and achievements

Playing

Team * 3× AFL premiership player ():

Individual * SA state-of-origin representative: 1999 *

International Rules International rules football (; also known as international rules in Australia and compromise rules or Aussie rules in Ireland) is a team sport consisting of a hybrid of football codes, which was developed to facilitate international represe ...

representative for Aus v

Ireland Ireland (, ; ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe. Geopolitically, the island is divided between the Republic of Ireland (officially Names of the Irish state, named Irelan ...

: 1999

Coaching

Team * AFL premiership coach ():

2023 Catastrophic natural disasters in 2023 included the Lists of 21st-century earthquakes, 5th-deadliest earthquake of the 21st century 2023 Turkey–Syria earthquakes, striking Turkey and Syria, leaving up to 62,000 people dead; Cyclone Freddy ...

* AFL minor premiership ():

* 3× AFL premiership assistant coach ():

2017 2017 was designated as the International Year of Sustainable Tourism for Development by the United Nations General Assembly. Events January * January 1 – Istanbul nightclub shooting: A gunman dressed as Santa Claus opens fire at the ...

2019 This was the year in which the first known human case of COVID-19 was documented, preceding COVID-19 pandemic, the pandemic which was declared by the World Health Organization the following year. Up to that point, 2019 had been described as ...

2020 The year 2020 was heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, which led to global Social impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, social and Economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, economic disruption, mass cancellations and postponements of even ...

* VFL premiership coach ( Richmond VFL): 2019 Individual * Jock McHale Medal:

All-Australian team The All-Australian team is an all-star team of Australian rules football in Australia, Australian rules footballers, selected by a panel at the end of each season. It represents a complete team, including an interchange bench, of the best-perfo ...

* AFL Senior Coach of the Year: 2022 * AFLCA Assistant Coach of the Year: 2019 * VFL Coach of the Year: 2019 * AFLCA Development Coach of the Year: 2012

Other work

Prior to his appointment as Collingwood Football Club senior coach, McRae was a part-time kicking and catching coach with the

Melbourne Storm The Melbourne Storm is a rugby league football club based in Melbourne, Victoria (Australia), Victoria, Australia that participates in the National Rugby League (NRL). The club plays its home games at AAMI Park, and wears a purple and navy blu ...

. Until the end of the 2006 season, McRae was involved in a sports administration business and various football broadcasting roles including radio station

Triple M Triple M is an Australian commercial radio network owned and operated by Southern Cross Austereo. The network consists of 45 radio stations with flagship stations broadcasting a mainstream/classic rock music format in Sydney, Melbourne, and B ...

, where he hosted a football programme with former Brisbane teammate

Jason Akermanis Jason Dean Akermanis (born 24 February 1977) is a former professional Australian rules football player who played in the Australian Football League (AFL). He is a Brownlow Medallist and triple premiership player who played for the Brisbane Bears ...

Personal life

McRae has two daughters, one from his first marriage and his second daughter from a previous partner. McRae married his second wife, Gabrielle, in 2022. Their daughter (his third child) was born the morning of the 2023 AFL Grand Final, and McRae announced her birth during the post-game presentation.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:McRae, Craig 1973 births Brisbane Bears players Brisbane Lions players Brisbane Lions premiership players Collingwood Football Club coaches Living people Glenelg Football Club players South Australian State of Origin players Australian rules footballers from South Australia Coburg Football Club coaches Christies Beach Football Club players Hackham Football Club players Australia international rules football team players VFL/AFL premiership players VFL/AFL premiership coaches