Craig McRae opens up on ‘tough’ times early in coaching career

Collingwood coach Craig McRae has opened up on the early days of his coaching career when he struggled to make ends meet.

McRae went into coaching shortly after his 195-game playing career ended with Brisbane.

But he would spend 15 years as an assistant at four different clubs before finally earning landing his first senior role at the Pies.

After retiring at the end of 2004, McRae joined Richmond as an assistant coach at Richmond.

He would spend three years there before joining the Lions, Collingwood, Richmond again, Hawthorn and then finally as the senior coach at the Pies in 2022.

Watch Craig McRae on Unfiltered after The Front Bar on Wednesday night on Channel 7 and 7plus Sport

But in a wide-ranging interview with Hamish McLachlan on Unfiltered, McRae revealed he never had ambitions of being a senior coach.

He also explained how times were “tough” in the early days when he was not paid well.

Hamish McLachlan: “You always wanted to be a senior coach?”

Craig McRae: “I don’t think I did.

HM: “When did you decide you might want to?”

CM: “When the phone rang.”

HM: “So you’re a development coach here, they let you go at the end of 2016. Did you think at that point?”

CM: ”No. It would’ve been the furthest thing from my mind.”

HM: “A million to one? You had no job, Richmond said come over here and they were embarrassed by what they were paying you?”

CM: “Very much so. It was probably half the salary at Richmond than what it was (at Collingwood) and had to do twice as many hours.”

HM: “Were you struggling to make ends meet at the time? With a young child?”

CM: “Yes. Tough times. Struggling, not thriving. But I loved coaching, I really did, that was my escape, if you like. I have passion for young men to get better and teams coming together and winning and succeeding – the joy of the staff. People volunteer their time, they want to be attached to clubs. That’s all I’ve ever known. So, yeah, I have a passion for that and I have a passion to be better, I really do. Where I am now, I want to be better tomorrow. So that was real at the time. But I was in an environment where, outside of here it was really difficult. So, I wasn’t growing as fast as I would’ve liked, just head above water, probably drowning a little bit. But, being a senior coach was never on my radar then.”

Watch Craig McRae on Unfiltered after The Front Bar on Wednesday night on Channel 7 and 7plus Sport