Head Coach Craig McRae has addressed the media ahead of this Saturday’s Opening Round clash with the GWS Giants.

McRae announced the debut of a young defender, confirmed some big inclusions for the game, and spoke to the mindset of getting back to work ahead of the 2024 season.

Dean to debut

“It’s a great story, Charlie’s last couple of years have been struck down by injury, the foot just kept re-injuring and this time last year he got ruled out for the whole year,” McRae said of young defender Charlie Dean.

“The things you don’t see is starring at that black line in the pool and limping around from trying to regain that belief in your body.

“He’s done a power of work, he’s physically stronger than he’s ever been.

“He’s a great system player. We’re confident that you’ll see a guy that plays Collingwood style, and he gets an opportunity and we’re really, really happy for him.”

Noble back into the side

“John will play…we want our players to keep coming back and getting better,” McRae said of the defender.

“Clearly, he didn’t get what he wanted at the end of last year, but he’s now fitter and stronger, he’s put on about four or five kilos.

“We need guys like Johnny to get us where we want to be.”

The key forward mix

“That one’s going to be a bit of a revolving door, we don’t think we’ve got the answer for the full season,” McRae said.

“We’re going to evolve that and play different players in those roles; we might play tall one week and we might go small the next.

“It depends on when we’re playing and who, and who’s in form, and there’ll be a lot of things considered in that position.”

Coming up against the Giants 

“We’ve got great respect for them, clearly they were the best team in the competition late in the year,” McRae said of the Pies’ Opening Round opponent.

“We went into that game (2023 Preliminary Final), last time we played them, thinking we had a break and they’d had six days and travel, but they just kept turning up.

“We’re under no illusions that they’re going to be really hard to beat and I don’t think luck will come into it.”

Getting back to work

“We’re really not defending anything, we’re getting back to work,” McRae said when asked about last year’s premiership.

“I think you’ve heard that coming out of our four walls and there’s nothing guaranteed in this world and the ladder resets again.

“We’re ready to go.”

Watch the full press conference: