Add articles to your saved list and come back to them any time.<\/p>\n
The Pies party is in full swing. They talk about the army, but with the last battle of this season won, it is more of a joyous, black and white throng, blessedly free of stress or worry or regret \u2013 if only for one glorious day.<\/p>\n
While they wait for their premiership heroes to emerge onto the balcony of the Glasshouse, the modern function centre that looks over Collingwood\u2019s training ground, they chirp and chatter like their club mascot, swapping stories about the game just played and the moments that made it.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
One fan sums up the feeling of Collingwood supporters.<\/span>Credit: <\/span>Luis Enrique Ascui<\/cite><\/p>\n They also know there is something about this team \u2013 something beyond Saturday\u2019s four-point margin against Brisbane or the record-levelling 16th premiership cup now in the club\u2019s keeping \u2013 which makes these Pies so easy to admire.<\/p>\n Christina Asquini, a Collingwood fan for all her 62 years, carries the scars of watching her club lose more grand finals than it has won. Yet, in the two years since Craig \u201cFly\u201d McRae was appointed coach, she has felt a lightening of the Collingwood mood and the burden carried by the club.<\/p>\n \u201cThe club has been encumbered by that in the past, that weight of history and tension,\u201d she says. \u201cFly coming in I think has really changed that and lightened everything up. They seem freer and happier, while still cognisant of that history.\u201d<\/p>\n Terry Patchett, a Collingwood member for 50 years, can\u2019t remember the club being a happier or more welcoming place. \u201cI think they are more connected now, they are playing more for each other, they feel more relaxed, they are very family orientated and very happy.\u201d<\/p>\n The Daicos boys, Nick and Josh, with the 2023 premiership cup.<\/span>Credit: <\/span>Getty Images<\/cite><\/p>\n For anyone who has closely followed the 2023 season, these are familiar verses from the Book of Fly, the cultural manifesto introduced to Collingwood by the game\u2019s sunniest senior coach.<\/p>\n McRae\u2019s \u201clive in the moment\u201d mantra is something preached and practised at Collingwood since he first walked into the club. Now, with apologies to Milan Kundera, this unbeatable lightness of being has given Collingwood, its players and their supporters a season to savour.<\/p>\n McRae, having barely sat down since his wife gave birth to their daughter on Saturday morning and his team won the flag the same afternoon, explains his philosophy from inside the Glasshouse, where tired players are lounging with their families and little kids wrestle for possession on the carpet.<\/p>\n \u201cWe just talk about it all the time; being in the moment,\u201d says McRae. \u201cIt is one thing to say it but to live in the moment, we practise it at training. You step over the white line you are on, you step off the white line you are off.<\/p>\n The Collingwood faithful.<\/span>Credit: <\/span>Luis Enrique Ascui<\/cite><\/p>\n \u201cThe reality is, if you are constantly in the moment and trying to get better every day, tomorrow is tomorrow. You can\u2019t do Saturday until you have done Friday. We just work on Friday and do that really well and when we get to Saturday we are ready for it.\u201d<\/p>\n If this pop-existentialism sounds confusing, it makes perfect sense to Collingwood captain Darcy Moore and his team. Jack Crisp, one of Collingwood\u2019s best players in the grand final, says one strength of this team has less to do with its best football than how it responds to its worst.<\/p>\n \u201cWe don\u2019t dwell on our mistakes,\u201d he says. \u201cWe are an imperfect football club and a lot of mistakes happen on a football field, it is just a matter of how quick you can move on. If you do a bad kick we don\u2019t care about that. It is what\u2019s next \u2013 what can you do for the team next?<\/p>\n \u201cThe biggest piece to talk about is our connection,\u201d Crisp continues. \u201cEveryone can play to their strengths on game day, but the connection is something we build together, off the field, which helps built the chemistry on-field. We talk about being a big family club, with a culture where everyone can connect with each other. I think that really benefits us.\u201d<\/p>\n Saturday\u2019s most spectacular example of this was Norm Smith medallist Bobby Hill. Hill\u2019s father Ian, who travelled from the West Australian town of Northam to watch the grand final, says that when his son played previously with Greater Western Sydney, the Giants coaches discouraged him from flying for marks.<\/p>\n When Hill came to Collingwood, McRae extended an open invitation for him to come fly with the friendly Pies. The result was Hill\u2019s delicate perch on the shoulders of Brisbane\u2019s Brandon Starcevich to juggle the mark of the day.<\/p>\n \u201cWhen he first rocked up to the club, Fly said to him just play your natural game,\u201d says Ian Hill. \u201cHis natural game is to run and take marks whenever he can.\u201d<\/p>\n McRae, while thrilled to see Hill soar to such heights, is also proud of the way his team and club keeps their feet on the ground.<\/p>\n \u201cIt is important to me as a leader. As I said out on stage, I am going to be a father a lot longer than I am going to be a coach. I want to role model behaviour and make sure we educate and grow our young men to be stand-up people.\u201d<\/p>\n Hill with his premiership medal and Norm Smith medal.<\/span>Credit: <\/span>Getty Images<\/cite><\/p>\n Peter Maynard, father of Collingwood defender Brayden Maynard, saw evidence of this when his son approached several Brisbane players collapsed on the ground at the end of the game.<\/p>\n Maynard is renowned as one of the fiercest competitors in the AFL and plays with an aggression that very nearly ended his finals series at the tribunal. At the final siren on Saturday, his first thought was to console the distraught Brisbane players and pull them to their feet.<\/p>\n \u201cIt didn\u2019t surprise me at all,\u201d Peter says. \u201cHe really is a sensitive, caring soul. He is genuine in the contest but after that, he is humble.\u201c<\/p>\n For McRae, it was a satisfying moment. \u201cThat is what winners do,\u201d he says. \u201cI want our group to have a certain level of humility and also, show respect.\u201d<\/p>\n Among the black and white throng stretched out before the Glasshouse, there is a deep appreciation for where McRae and his players have taken the club.<\/p>\n For Collingwood devotee Rosie Hampson, it has made for a feeling unfamiliar to most football supporters. \u201cI felt confident this year. I really did. They just know how to do it.\u201d<\/p>\n Keep up to date with the best AFL coverage in the country. <\/i><\/b>Sign up for the Real Footy newsletter<\/i><\/b>.<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Most Viewed in Sport<\/h2>\n
From our partners<\/h3>\n