Craig McRae walked into his Friday morning press conference ready to set the record straight on two fronts. The Collingwood coach had been linked with the Carlton job and subjected to unfair personal speculation during the week. Neither, he made clear, would distract him from the business at hand.
"Oh, that's not true," McRae said when asked whether Blues CEO Graham Wright had approached him about moving to Ikon Park late last year. The denial came with a touch of exasperation. "Geez, I'm caught up in a lot of things at the moment, aren't I?"
His reasoning was straightforward. McRae has extended his contract at Collingwood, and his mate Michael Voss works at Carlton. The arithmetic simply didn't add up for a move.
The more pressing matter, however, was the rumour mill that had churned through the week. Collingwood CEO Craig Kelly had already issued a public statement defending McRae against what the club described as "untrue, irresponsible and unfair" suggestions about a marriage breakdown. McRae addressed the issue directly with his playing group, though he was careful not to dwell on it.
"It was just addressing the world we're in," he explained. "There's heroes and villains, and wins and losses, and we're all caught up in that. We play the game, which is kicks, marks and handballs, and this is the other game."
Yet the frustration was evident beneath the measured tone. "There's a lot of things written that aren't true," McRae said, before adding with characteristic resilience: "I'm not a victim. I'm here to do my job, and how good is the footy?"
On the actual footy front, McRae confirmed that Collingwood would introduce tall forward Jack Buller, recruited from Sydney, for Sunday's opening round clash against St Kilda at the MCG. "He gets recruited for a reason and he competes hard," McRae said. "He's a genuine forward for us."
The Magpies will need that competitive edge with captain Darcy Moore and veteran Jeremy Howe sidelined through injury. McRae expressed confidence that Collingwood's system would allow the back six to compensate. As for the inevitable comparison between St Kilda's exciting young prospect Nasiah Wanganeen-Milera and Collingwood's Nick Daicos, McRae deflected with grace. "Comparisons are evil," he said. "You can never live up to someone else, so just be the best version of you. And Nick's a pretty good version of himself."
Sunday's encounter marks McRae's 100th game in charge of the Magpies, a milestone achieved just days after he was made an AFL life member. St Kilda, meanwhile, arrive with recruits Tom De Koning, Jack Silvagni, Sam Flanders and Liam Ryan among their 26-person squad. Saints coach Ross Lyon dismissed suggestions his depleted opponents were in decline. "Everyone's there, the only two that aren't there are really important," Lyon said of Moore and Howe.
For McRae, Sunday offers a chance to shift focus from the noise back to the game itself. "What others write about is what we can never control," he said of the week's turmoil. That clarity of purpose may be exactly what Collingwood need.