Collingwood coach Craig McRae has sensationally thrown his football boss Justin Leppitsch under the bus, revealing his famous “give me players, not picks” quote was never his own philosophy.
McRae publicly declared his want for more established players after the 2024 season when the Pies missed out on finals as defending premiers.
Collingwood landed Dan Houston, Harry Perryman and Tim Membrey in a busy off-season that had them primed for another tilt at the flag.
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It continued their recent trend of being aggressive players in the trade space, as evidenced by the fact they haven’t used a top-15 draft pick since matching a big on father-son Nick Daicos (No.4) in 2021.
But in a stunning admission, McRae distanced himself from the widely quoted statement, instead saying he was told to say it by Leppitsch and it isn’t his philosophy at all.
“I honestly haven’t spoken about this ever. I’ve just let it be out there for the narrative that’s been written about that quote. But that was never my agenda or philosophy,” McRae said on Fox Footy’s on Monday night.
“That was something happening in the background through a trade period.
“Funnily enough, Justin Leppitsch asked me to say that publicly, so it would support a trade. But that’s so far from my philosophy or my want.
“If anything, I’m probably more balanced and struggle to have one philosophy around trading, because I think you can’t sit it one box.
“If you just go straight to the trade period and free agency, then you’re leaving other things behind. I think you’ve got to be really balanced and somewhat meet every trade period and the draft with its own merits.
“This is the first time I’ve been coach of Collingwood that we’ve got all our draft picks and we’ve got a healthy salary cap. We’re not paying players from other clubs and we’ve got money to spend.
“It just hasn’t been the story in my time. There’s an excitement with that.”
The revelation has sparked questions about tension between the premiership coach and his football boss.
Channel 7’s Caroline Wilson said McRae’s comments were “beyond the pale”.
“Now I know there’s a bit of tension between him and his footy boss, Justin Leppitsch. Doesn’t that happen at every club? But this, tonight on 360, was just beyond the pale,” she said on The Agenda Setters.
“Come on, Craig. It’s one in, all in isn’t it? There’s no ‘i’ in team.
“That’s an extraordinary admission. Do we believe it?”
Tom Morris said that perhaps it shows how the clubs will do anything they can to help get a trade done.
“Well, what it shows is that clubs say anything publicly to try to get trades done. And Leppitsch wanted Craig McRae to say it at the time,” he said.
Nick Riewoldt couldn’t understand how that quote would help land a player.
“How would that quote influence a player one way or the other?” He said.
Questions remain about which specific trade the quote was designed to support, but Wilson definitely believes there is “tension” between McRae and Leppitsch.
“I want to know the phone conversation between the two tonight,” Morris added.
