‘I had no idea what was going on’: Craig McRae’s day he will never forget

As he took hold of the premiership cup, his first as coach of Collingwood, on an afternoon when the roar around the MCG had been deafening, Craig McRae had more good news to deliver the Magpie army.

Just hours before the Magpies had claimed their 16th flag before 100,024 fans, this time by four points over the Brisbane Lions, he and wife Gabrielle had welcomed a baby daughter Maggie into the world.

In the bowels of the home of football an hour later, McRae said while Gabrielle had gone to St Vincent’s hospital overnight, she had allowed him to sleep in at home to 5.45am, when a call came to get to the hospital.

Maggie arrived two hours later - this was McRae’s third child - the coach leaving hospital at midday, but without his shoes. A new pair was quickly found.

“The tears flowing this morning, at 7.45am, my wife has been remarkable. She went into labour and went to the hospital with her sister, and went without me to let me sleep in. I had no idea what was going on,” McRae said.

“She is just so amazing, it’s going to make me cry. I am just so proud of her.”

There were also tears in the dressingroom on Saturday evening. This premiership was particularly special for the Magpies, for it placed them alongside fellow power clubs Essendon and Carlton as the record-holders for most VFL-AFL premierships.

“Two years ago we started this journey, this campaign, it’s been a hell of a ride,” McRae said.

In only his second season in charge, McRae was in possession of the holy grail.

“Two years ago we started this journey, this campaign, it’s been a hell of a ride,” McRae said.

It wasn’t an easy afternoon. In temperatures topping 30 degrees, the Magpies had needed to fend off an opponent which refused to go away. They led by four points at the final change, and the Brisbane Lions had the lead at the 19-minute mark when Charlie Cameron edged two opponents and snapped truly on his left foot.

But goals to reformed bad boy Jordan De Goey and veteran Steele Sidebottom, the latter from 50 metres, having won a 50m penalty, all but sealed the result. Sidebottom’s epic kick will long be remembered. Joe Daniher cut the lead to four points with 1.33 minutes left, but time soon expired.

The Magpies had managed scores of only 58 and 60 through their two winning finals, but on Saturday they conjured 90 points.

“Clearly, we moved the ball differently, that was our whole theme of the week. Let’s not do what we did the week before [against Greater Western Sydney], didn’t look to change the angles, didn’t look to bring the ball into the corridor, didn’t look to switch off turnovers. We showed the footage of it - we knew what we had to fix because it was right in front of us,” McRae said.

In the rooms afterwards, the sons of guns Nick and Josh Daicos, and Darcy Moore, were ecstatic. Bobby Hill (four goals) was best on ground, but Nick Daicos (29 disposals) was close, while Josh Daicos (17 disposals) also had a day to remember. Darcy Moore, while having only seven disposals, had been the defensive centrepiece.

Their famous fathers, Peter Daicos and Peter Moore, were also jubilant.

“It feels surreal. It’s just bizarre, So much work has gone in for so long,” Darcy Moore, who became the 11th Magpies premiership captain, said.

“It’s just incredible. It was fun to play in, not sure if it was fun to watch.”

The vision of Moore being presented the premiership cup by his famous father Peter, the latter having had so much grand final heartbreak as a player, was fun to watch.

Craig Kelly had experienced all of this before, having been part of the breakthrough 1990 mob. Now as club chief executive, he also had premiership teammate Graham Wright, now the Magpies’ head of football, by his side.

“It’s Daics, Peter, even having my boy [Will], there - he, obviously, didn’t play. But just being around the club and embracing the family and past players, is a really big thing that ‘Fly’ [McRae] wanted, and that we do,” Kelly said, unsure whether to have his tie on or off.

“Standing in the middle of the ground today, after this with Daics on one side and Wrighty on the other, the last time we were here was pretty special, this is pretty good now.”

As he was embraced by families and board members, Kelly said times had changed since ’90 in terms of how grand-final week and the day was embraced.

“It’s just a lot bigger and a lot more … slower. Everything is organised, like all of this [in the dressingroom], everyone walking to the game before the game, embracing it. We were all a bit precious, not that [coach] Leigh [Matthews] was, but it seems to me that the whole industry is better, and we get to enjoy it a lot more. It’s amazing,” Kelly said.

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While the Magpies led by less than a goal at the final change, history was on their side, for they had been 15-0 this season when leading when heading into the final term. The Lions, however, had other ideas. They pounced on wasted Magpie opportunities early in the final term, and had the lead when Charlie Cameron delivered a left-foot snap. Enter De Goey and Sidebottom.

“When the siren goes, I don’t even know how to explain that feeling,” forward Billy Frampton said. Frampton replaced the injured Daniel McStay at selection, and had the job of trying to negate Lions interceptor Harris Andrews.

Asked what it meant to have a premiership medallion around his neck, Frampton, hunched over, added: “I don’t think that will ever sink in, that I am an AFL premiership player. I was in tears out there, thinking about the ride. Unfathomable.”

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