โIโm really comfortable with my values and morals, and what people say about me, I canโt control.โ
McRae said he spoke to the players for โ10 seconds of a 30-minute meetingโ.
โIt was just addressing the world weโre in,โ he explained.
โThereโs heroes and villains, and wins and losses, and weโre all caught up in that. We play the game … which is kicks marks and handballs, and this is the other game.
โSometimes the other game tries to get involved in our kicks, marks and handballs, which we try to educate our players around. Maybe I was a living example of that.โ
McRae said he had not tried to track down the source of the rumours.
โMy private life, we are very comfortable,โ he said. โMy wife (Gabrielle) and I have never been happier. What others write about is what we can never control.
โAm I disappointed? Yeah, but Iโm not a victim. Iโm here to do my job, and how good is the footy?โ
McRae is lining up for his 100th game in charge of the Magpies against St Kilda at the MCG on Sunday, following a week in which he was made an AFL life member.
He said Collingwood would introduce tall timber Jack Buller, recruited from Sydney, to their forward line.
โHe gets recruited for a reason and he competes hard. Heโs a genuine forward for us, heโs a competitive guy and well liked already.โ
McRae was confident the Magpiesโ system would allow their back six to compensate for the absence of captain Darcy Moore and veteran defender Jeremy Howe.
But the Collingwood coach would not be drawn on a recent comparison that suggested St Kildaโs Nasiah Wanganeen-Milera had already surpassed Collingwood superstar Nick Daicos.
โNaz is an incredible player,โ McRae said. โWow, what an exciting player. You could build a whole club around him, and so great respect for what heโs doing.
โBut I donโt like comparisons. I actually say to our players all the time, โcomparisons are evilโ because you can never live up to someone else, so just be the best version of you. And Nickโs a pretty good version of himself.โ
McRae said it was unlikely fans would see Wanganeen-Milera and Daicos go head-to-head on Sunday.
