‘We want to stand for something’: McRae gives thumbs-up to Magpies aggression

Collingwood coach Craig McRae has vowed his team will continue to straddle a fine line between aggression and consequence, sensing this fiery spirit can deliver the Magpies a finals berth.

The Magpies vowed last month to tackle a series of mid-winter games with fervour, and they have done that with three-straight wins, including a contentious one-goal victory over Gold Coast on Saturday when defender Brayden Maynard escaped with a $5000 fine after making incidental contact with an umpire in a scuffle with Suns’ opponent Ben Long.

The Suns’ forward was later suspended for two matches for an earlier hit on Maynard, who lit the fuse for a bench-clearing half-time melee when he arrowed at a pack of players, including Long.

In total, more than 20 fines were issued by the match review officer from the game, resulting in players contributing more than $30,000 to the AFL’s concussion fund. Maynard will pay $7000 of that, $5000 on a misconduct charge arising from the umpire contact and $1000 each for counts of instigating and engaging in a melee. Long was the only player suspended, and he has chosen to challenge that ban at the tribunal on Tuesday night.

McRae said the Magpies do not condone contact with umpires, but stressed he wanted his players to take a stand – when required.

“Yeah, we internally reward our spirit. There’s definitely a coming together and an energy when we rally together,” McRae said on Tuesday.

“We love our inspirational leaders in Nick [Daicos] and ‘Bruzzy’ [Maynard], in particular. That matters. We want to stand up for something or stand for something, so that’s something we’ve reviewed, and we’ll continue to water what we want to grow.

“And then the other part of it is that, obviously, that we don’t condone violence and things. There’s a protection of the umpires that we want to abide by. We all want to live that.”

McRae said the Magpies would not “leave a guy out on an island” if he has been targeted by the opposition. But he pointed to the Magpies’ low fine count this season to highlight they do not often cross the behavioural line.

“You have got to tread carefully on the rules at times – and challenge. If someone’s coming for one of our players off the ball: ’Hey, c’mon, you’ve got to stand up for yourself,” McRae said.

“Anywhere we can get a fine line being on the edge, we are going to hunt the opposition. Again, we will try and do it this week – again, within the rules.”

The Magpies trained at Melbourne Grammar on Tuesday, McRae describing the soil mixture at the club’s home base as not “quite at the level to have the high intensity [training] we require, particularly when we are playing at Marvel, indoors”. Their usual training oval at the Melbourne Sports and Entertainment Precinct is the responsibility of the Melbourne and Olympic Parks Trust.

The Pies had asked to train at Marvel Stadium, where they will face North Melbourne on Friday night, but were denied because there will be two games there on Friday, with the clubs playing a VFL curtain-raiser before the AFL match.

McRae said dynamic half-back Isaac Quaynor (ankle) would not play, having failed to prove his fitness at training, but veteran Scott Pendlebury had overcome a calf issue and would line up.

The Magpies also maintain they remain a potential new home for Brisbane Lions premiership star Lachie Neale, even though he met with the Saints’ hierarchy last week.

McRae has spoken with the unrestricted free agent, who is also weighing up whether to remain a Lion.

“Until any free agent is signed, I have said this for a number of weeks, we have a strategic plan looking at who is available. We will just keep that hat in the ring, and see how we go with that,” McRae said.

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