Coach Craig McRae of Collingwood has explained why he will not wear his premiership medal and has backed requests for players from the winning team who did not participate in the grand final to also get medals.
Since the Magpies’ thrilling four-point victory over the Brisbane Lions last Saturday, there has been much discussion regarding how players who were left out should be honoured.
According to McRae, any player who appeared at any point throughout the season deserves to be honoured.
According to me, they need to receive a medal,” McRae said on Fox Footy.
I’m unsure of the exact length. I’ll let others weigh in on that.
As the premiership coach who received the Jock McHale Medal, McRae feels that assistance coaches should also be honoured.
Since it doesn’t accurately reflect all of our instructors, I haven’t worn it since they presented it to me on stage, according to McRae.
It comes after Collingwood mainstay Taylor Adams and important forward Daniel McStay were forced to withdraw due to injuries and John Noble was not chosen.
Noble participated in all 23 home and away games but was not included in the lineup for the championship series.
Currently, a medal is only given to the senior coach and members of the winning team on grand final day.
Mason Cox, a ruckman for the Magpies, has been particularly adamant about his conviction that medals should be given to the entire playing group.
Collingwood’s chief executive, Craig Kelly, said on Monday that the team is looking for methods to honour the staff, players, and coaches who contributed to the championship.
McRae said earlier in the week that he had intended to keep his baby girl’s birth a secret on grand final day, but Collingwood’s thrilling victory inspired the Magpies coach to share the fantastic news with the football community as he raised the gold trophy.
He said on stage at the MCG that “today was already the best day of my life” since “my wife gave birth to a little girl this morning at 7:45.”
“So darling, I’m bringing the cup home tonight; I love you!”
McRae said his wife was surprised by his admission and that he had no intention of making the pregnancy news public.
I must admit that I am a private man, McRae stated. “My wife and I really value our privacy.”
“This is how secretive we are,” the author remarked. “I said ‘I’m not telling anybody we’ve had the kid’ and then I started to think ‘oh, maybe I’ll tell the players’ and then there’s tape of me acting a little goofy in the rooms.
After the game, I announced it to the world. ‘What happened?’ she asks. It was just the exhilaration of it all, I guess.
It was the Magpies’ 16th AFL/VFL championship, tying them for first place with former rivals Carlton and Essendon.
