Collingwood Magpies head coach Craig McRae had to deal with a storm of damaging speculation about his personal life earlier this week. It didn’t take long for the 2023 premiership-winning coach to shoot down those rumors. He assured them that these were the result of confusion about his explicit sabbatical leave over the summer months.
McRae scheduled his leave all the way back in December of 2022. His intention was always to go back to the sideline after this sabbatical. He emphasized that there was never any deeper issue behind his absence, stating, “Craig’s leave was planned in December last year and he was always going to return to work when he did and there was never anything more to it,” according to Collingwood CEO Craig Kelly.
The speculation reached a fever pitch in recent weeks, leaving McRae to have to speak directly to his players about the rumors last week. He reassured them that the rumors about his personal life were unfounded and had no bearing on their performance or team dynamics.
There was so much noise. I’m going, ‘What’s going on here?’ To be honest, it hasn’t affected us. That’s because when it’s fiction as far away from the truth as you can get, you go, oh, this is kind of bothersome. But we move on. To be honest, we’re thrilled with Sunday,’ McRae said in an interview with 7NEWS on Wednesday evening. His comments show an intention to keep the team grounded as they look ahead to big things in the future.
As the new coach of one of America’s most high-profile sports teams, McRae is no stranger to this kind of public scrutiny. True to form, he wouldn’t have it any other way, as he focuses on what lies ahead with the Collingwood Magpies.
