Pies premiership coach Craig McRae joined Roo, Ditts & Loz and spoke in depth about changing the mentality of his playing group at the start of his Collingwood journey in 2022.
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“It’s amazing the psychology of sport, if you have this fear of failure or this tightness and anxiety,” McRae said.
“The group that I inherited, I felt that this group was that.
“The very first game I coached, I went into the pre-game and thought ‘These guys are really uptight’. Just over I time I started to loosen that up and let the flower blossom if you like.
“If you can play a game through joy, and on the weekend I was lucky to have so much joy in my veins, you have this whole different feel of life.
McRae had the day of his life on Saturday, welcoming baby Maggie into the world before winning the 2023 flag with the Pies in the afternoon.
“If you do enough hard work during the week then match day you just have some fun doing it.”