Collingwood are gearing up for the Queen’s Birthday clash against Melbourne supporting Motor Neuron Disease (MND) and the Big Freeze.
Fly believes being part of FightMND is extremely special for the club.
“It is a special day for the footy club, playing for this occasion. [Neale] is an inspiration to all of us and the cause itself has just grown so much over the years," McRae said.
“It is such an inspiration for the cause and the way he is still giving messages. We want to make sure we respect the day for what it is and hopefully put on a good performance for everyone."
Bec Daniher joined McRae this morning and is appreciative of the support of both Collingwood and Melbourne.
“To have the support of Collingwood has been unbelievable. Back in 2015, they took a gamble on us to put a giant slide in the MCG before such an iconic game," Daniher said.
“The Big Freeze has been our ability to be part of a platform. It has been unbelievable, but it needed a platform and Collingwood and Melbourne have helped us move this forward."
On the preparation into the game, McRae believes the side are in good form and training well.
“We have had four weeks in a row now where we have had seven-day breaks so the players have really enjoyed the preparation side of getting ready to play and perform so there’s a little bit of a model there for us if we train well we play well so we just trained well then so we are setting us up to play well," McRae said.
Brody Mihocek is being managed through the week as he deals with bone bruising to the knee after an incident against Hawthorn.
“There is a slight concern around Mihocek, he is not going train much this week. He has a bit of bone bruising; he hurt his knee half way through the third quarter, so we will manage him," McRae said.
Jamie Elliot is back on the track after sickness last week.
“He trained today, he was still a little bit sick over the weekend but he was back in yesterday and trained today," McRae said.
Brodie Grundy is tracking well after his knee surgery at the beginning of the season.
“It’s exciting, he just came out of his brace this week, starting to get a little bit of his swagger back which is nice. He hasn’t been able to walk freely for four weeks and he’ll start to transition towards training and hopefully another four to six weeks he’ll be available for us," McRae said.
Collingwood's brand of footy is building naturally of a team that’s starting with a new game plan and new coach.
“I think the last three weeks we are edging towards the team we want to be with a lot more work to do," McRae said.
On the AFL’s decisions against Ginnivan, Fly is content to move on.
“I think like anything, we’re all going to make mistakes. We don’t see everything, we don’t kick the ball perfectly, we don’t mark the ball every time…we just move on," McRae said.
Mid season draftee Josh Carmichael is set to play VFL this week after arriving at the club last week.
“He’ll play this week, we were conscious that he came in late last week to throw him in the deep end but he trained today and a couple of days ago an the early signs are good," McRae said.
McRae believes Carmichael is up to AFL standard and can see him playing senior footy.
“I can, I think he’s got a lot of AFL traits and he is an elite runner, similar to a Pat Lipinski type runner and for us has proven to be a really important player for us," McRae said.
Ash Johnson and Charlie Dean are back on the track, recovering from their long term injuries.
“We’re just starting to get some of those guys back; Ash was out for ten weeks and he is back this week. Charlie Dean trained really well today and he’ll be back out after the bye. Some of the long term injuries are starting to turn for us," McRae said.
With the main session to come on Saturday, the team will be confirmed that afternoon.
