Trade decline: collingwood coach Craig McRae turns down $567.8 million offer just to remain…

Craig McRae believes there is a growing sense of frustration at Collingwood as a result of teams largely figuring out the defending premiers’ game. The Pies have been a dominant force in the AFL in recent years but results have been a mixed bag in 2024. And Brown believes Collingwood coach Craig McRae is rattled and is becoming increasingly frustrated with his team’s overall performance.

Collingwood have won just two of their last five games, leaving them with a record of 8-5-2 and they sit just one win inside the top eight. Last week, the Pies were beaten by 11 points by the Gold Coast Suns, which was a stark contrast to the corresponding fixture last season where they wiped the floor with Gold Coast 120-42.

That flogging swiftly led to their former coach Stuart Dew being axed and saw Damien Hardwick appointed as the new head coach. And Brown says last week’s performance against the Suns showed teams that once feared playing the Pies no longer do and believes it has left McRae searching for answers.

“I’m just putting something on the table here, I can sense a sense of frustration from Craig McRae,” Brown said on Fox Footy’s On the Couch. “After their performance on Saturday, we know what happened a couple of weeks ago against North Melbourne where they just got over the line, I’m sensing an underlying frustration coming out of Collingwood from the coaching staff, especially Craig McRae.

“He’s got a steeliness about him at the moment, he’s not sort of a jock to the press conferences anymore… they’re just starting to roll the dice too much for me.”

The Pies have trailed at three-quarter-time in 28 of their past 66 games, a figure of over 42 per cent. But before 2024 their ability to close out games was like no other in the league making that figure somewhat mute. However, that has not been the case this season. Along with their struggles to get over the line, in the past six weeks, Collingwood ranked 13th in the competition for points against, 14th for contested possession differential and 16th for inside 50 differential.