Collingwood Head Coach Craig McRae addressed the media ahead of Thursday’s Qualifying Final against Melbourne.

McRae said it had been a long build up to finals, but that he was glad it was finally right around the corner.

“It’s not too often you qualify for the finals about Round 15 or 16, that rarely happens,” he said.

“Then you want to qualify for top for and that was about Round 17 so you go ‘we’ve got a long way to go’.

“We’ve been sitting a little bit idled in that and trying to find the best version of ourselves for a few weeks now.

“But here we are, we’re ready to go.”

While much of the focus has been on the Pies, McRae said internally the focus was solely going into how to beat Melbourne.

“We know what we need to do to beat Melbourne and Melbourne know what they need to do to beat us,” he said.

“That’s reality and it’s just who executes and manages those moments the best and that’s why you practice all year for it.

“We’re well aware that every opposition knows how we want to play and we do the same for them.

“We’ve been watching Melbourne for weeks now, we know what we need to do.”

With competition for spots hot, McRae was coy on who would make their way into the side but did confirm ruck duo Mason Cox and Darcy Cameron would both play.

“September does spark a little bit more interest around wanting to be available. I thought we trained really well, last session on Sunday was exactly the same,” he said.

“It’s going to be tough, I’ve slept on a couple of magnets not sure which way we’re going to go.

“I’ve sort of been debating and analysing who fits in and why. I think reality is we’ll pick a team that we think will beat Melbourne.

“I’m pretty happy to declare that they (Cox and Cameron) both will play. In what capacity, whether one starts as sub I’m not sure and we’ll work though that.

“The best version of us over the last eighteen months is when they’re both at their best.”

After the momentum generated in last year’s finals series, McRae said the Club had learnt a lot that they will implement in 2023.

“We just seem like we’re ready. Last year there was all the unknown and what’s coming, and we gained some great momentum,” he said.

“I’ve been around footy for a long time now and been fortunate to have been around some premiership success and everyone one has looked different.

“Every year looks something different and this one looks different, but I think we’ve got great momentum in certain parts of our game that we’re looking to put on show.”

While he wont play on Thursday, McRae also provided an update on Nick Daicos.

“He ran well on Sunday and we were all excited for that step forward and the plan is for him to train tomorrow, give him a couple of days off to recover from that and take the next step,” he said.

“It’s exciting to think that he’s progressing well.”

McRae urged the Magpie Army to paint the town black and white, saying they were the Club’s main purpose heading into their finals campaign.

“We’re so lucky today to announce 106,000 members which is a record in AFL/VFL history,” he said.

“We don’t lose sight of that, it’s an amazing achievement.

“Wherever we go they turn up and I said on the weekend we want to paint the town black and white, wear your black and white clothes to Coles and wherever you go.”

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