Collingwood coach Craig McRae has walked back his "players not picks" comment from the 2024 trade period, revealing it was part of a public ploy to aid his side in a potential trade at the time.
The comment has been lorded over "Fly's head in the years since, as detractors of Collingwood's list profile bay for the club's eventual spiral into irrelevance.
McRae told Fox Footy's AFL360 program that he made the comment in the hopes of aiding list boss Justin Leppitsch's attempts to land a big fish behind the scenes.
“That was never my agenda or my philosophy," McRae said.
"That was something that was happening in the background of a trade period. Funnily enough, Justin Leppitsch asked me to say that publicly, to support a (potential) trade. That's so far from my philosophy or my want. I'm probably more balanced."
With their proverbial fingers in many proverbial pies, Collingwood are looming as a key player in yet another trade period, with the 2023 premiership coach bullish about the talent his club may bring in, while also buoyed byt he opportunities afforded his club's younger brigade in season 2026.
“This is the first time as coach of Collingwood that we have all our draft picks, and we've got a healthy salary cap. We're not paying players at other clubs and we have money to spend - it just hasn't been the story in my time. There's an excitement with that," McRae said.
“Ultimately you want to expose (the likes of) Sam Swadling, Harvey Harrison and young (Liam) Puncher gets an opportunity, and these guys show that they're going to take us to another level that we're yet to reach."
Rival coach Chris Scott echoed McRae's comments about flexibility in the player movement space, bemoaning the binary view taken by pundits about a club's approach. He implied that not every club is either rebuilding or making win-now moves, but rather, a balance of the two philosophies is often preferred.
“I support what “Fly” was saying with regards to being opportunistic. If your strategy is so binary that you rule out opportunity that is unexpected (that is sub-optimal)," Scott said.
After an ankle injury that initially caused concerns that an improving Lachie Schultz may not be sighted at the level again this season, McRae revealed that the injury is not as bad as first thought.
"It's a low grade syndesmosis," McRae said.
"He's in a boot for a week, and then we'll see how that goes. We thought he might have been done for the year, but maybe a bit more short term," he added, while admitting the club will wait for Tuesday's training to pass comment on a potential absence for in-form defender, Jeremy Howe.
