So much has changed for Craig McRae in his three and a half years as Collingwood coach.

There's the public attention he still can't get his head around. There's the complex process of reflection, and the jolting realisation that while looking back is always necessary to move forward, that sometimes it's simply best to not read too much into the past.

There's also a weird understanding that he has become comfortable in the "coaching job", but equally uncomfortable in the "coaching role".

"And I don't know if that makes sense," he tells AFL.com.au on the eve of the 2025 season.

Something hasn't changed. An unwavering commitment to provide his players with a reason to believe they are capable of winning a premiership every season, no matter how old or young they are, and regardless of ladder position the previous year.

Some would say he is always all-in, and particularly so on entering 2025 with the AFL's oldest list.

When the all-in and last-roll phrases are put to McRae, he doesn't warmly embrace the concept.

"I think that language is a poker term, and so that is last chips in … but in terms of us, we want to be all-in in everything we do, we are not going to shy away from that," McRae said. 

"We are in a growth mindset, you have heard me say that multiple years now, which means tomorrow could be our best day if we prepare well for it. There is no ceiling on that. I don't put ceilings on anything.

"We understand the competition is set up to get rewards if you are down (on the ladder), but our mindset is to just get better … there is a tipping point coming for some players on our list, but why would we put a ceiling on things? Time will tell, won't it?"

Under McRae, Collingwood has reached a 2022 preliminary final (which it lost by one point, and having come off a second-last finish in 2021), won the 2023 premiership (by four points), and last year ended ninth (missing finals by percentage only).

With 11 players 30 years of age or older at some stage of 2025 – Scott Pendlebury (37), Jeremy Howe (35), Steele Sidebottom and Mason Cox (34), Jamie Elliott (33), Jack Crisp, Tom Mitchell, Brody Mihocek, Will Hoskin Elliott (32), Darcy Cameron and Dan McStay (30) – McRae knows match-day selection will often require great consideration.

McRae referenced several learnings from 2024 would shape 2025 thinking, including a key takeout on the differences between a team on the whiteboard to the one that played a match. On occasions last year, the Pies contained footballers "fit to play, but maybe not fit to perform".

Early-season matches this year, with conditions often hot and match-styles manic, will likely mean some of those older players will be rested.

McRae was typically open on his captain Darcy Moore's impact in 2024. "He missed two pre-seasons in a row, and this game now it is very difficult to be at the top of your game … he had a disappointing year, and I think he would be the first to say that," he said.

He was also candid about off-field disruptions stemming from Graham Wright's exit as general manager of football, and the shuffling of other personnel, including Justin Leppitsch, Brendon Bolton and Derek Hine. Former Sydney Swans football department head Charlie Gardiner has been appointed to that role at the Pies for 2025.

"I thought it was a difficult year managing all the emotions of that," McRae said. "I'm certain we will be in a better position for all of this, no doubt. There were things we had to live to get to here."

Collingwood was smashed with injuries in 2024. At stages it was required to manufacture a forward 50 combination around Jamie Elliott, Lachie Schultz and Will Hoskin-Elliott, in the absence of Mihocek and McStay. Tim Membrey has been added for 2025.

The elevation of Nick Daicos into the team's official leadership structure will see the next phase of his already-extraordinary three-season career, according to McRae.

"He treats every training session as though it's the most important he's ever done … he's getting better every day … we are on a journey with him, but he's dragged us to a place where maybe others didn't think we were capable of," McRae said.

"People may see the shiny outcomes (with Daicos), but we see the process and the hard work and the struggle and the injuries, what he does to get his body right, what he gives to others, how he sets up others."

Toward the end of a wide-ranging interview, McRae chose to revisit the all-in narrative.

"Your language of all-in is interesting; we are going to continue to get ourselves in a position where we would like to qualify, and until you qualify there is no point aspiring to more than that," he said.

"We would like to think our best is going to be really hard to play against … I'm happy to stand in front of our faithful and say that as long as I am coaching I will continue to try and make our team the best it can possibly be.

"So if that means Dan Houston is available, let's go and get Dan Houston. Let's just try to get better. Why wouldn't you want that?"