‘Time’s running out for some’: McRae’s stark warning to under-performing young Magpies

Collingwood coach Craig McRae has warned time is running out for several of the club’s youngsters, as the Magpies prioritise experience for their King’s Birthday blockbuster against Melbourne.

As the Magpies brace for Nick Daicos to cop another hard tag from Demons nemesis Ed Langdon, McRae has revealed he asked for more in one-on-one conversations with the club’s AFL-listed players who have been unable to crack a regular senior game.

Despite blooding a debutant this round, the Pies will be fielding an even older and more experienced 23 on Monday to the team that lost to the Western Bulldogs last week. That side was the oldest and most experienced from the last round.

Preliminary finalists last year, the Magpies began the round out of the wildcard positions in 11th with an ageing list and little youth coming through. Their VFL team was 20th of 22 in the state league competition.

Seasoned defender Harry Perryman returns from injury while mid-season recruit Mitch Podhajski plays his first AFL game at the age of 27, replacing Wil Parker, 24, and Ned Long, 23 – both of whom played in the VFL on Saturday. Midfielder Sam Swadling, from last year’s draft, is tantalisingly close to a debut and will be the carryover emergency.

McRae, who has been criticised for not picking more youth, said he is concerned with the lack of progress from the Magpies’ younger brigade.

He did not single out any names but Jakob Ryan (2022 draft) and Joel Cochran (2024) are out of contract at the end of the year, Harry DeMattia, a first-round pick from 2023, remains uncapped at senior level, and Tew Jiath, also from 2023, played his only AFL game two years ago. Of their national draft picks since 2019, Daicos and Beau McCreery are the only players commanding regular senior games.

Podhajski has burst into the senior team after just over a week on the list. McRae stressed the prolific goalkicker in the VFL was very much a needs-based selection, replacing injured dynamic forward Jamie Elliott, but has put the heat on the kids.

“I had 25 conversations, one-on-ones this week with our academy guys, because I want to be really clear where they stand, where they stand with what’s happening right now, and where we stand for the rest of the year,” McRae said.

“We’re setting them up to give them opportunity to come into the team, so we’re very much deliberate in our decision-making.”

A premiership coach in the VFL with Richmond before getting the top job at Collingwood, McRae said he was not comfortable with the poor form of the Pies’ reserves team.

“Some of those conversations, as of this week, have been wanting more,” McRae said. “And time’s running out for some on the list, and still plenty of time for some on the list. So we get to work, and then be knocking the door down to get opportunities.”

McRae is expecting Melbourne, even under new coach Steven King, to tag use Langdon to again tag Daicos. Langdon sacrificed his own game in last year’s Big Freeze, limiting Daicos to just 19 disposals but the Pies snuck home by a point.

“Not many have kept Nick to 14, 15 disposals, and Langdon did that last game or the one before, so they got a formula that works, or they did,” McRae said.

“I think the same as a coach, “go on, it’s worked, let’s go again”. And so I’ll be surprised if he doesn’t at some stage find his way to Nick, and we’ll just have some plans around that.”

Those plans include sending Daicos forward to isolate his opponent near goal.

“If you watched Nick in the last two years get tagged, he plays everywhere, and so that challenges systems and challenges opposition,” McRae said.

“Do we want to go with them all the way, or just at stoppage, or do we play him when he’s forward, or when he’s taking the kick-ins? How far do you want to go with this?”

Chol calls out racial attack as Hawks condemn ‘vile and appalling’ abuse

Danny Russell and Isabel McMillan

AFL boss Andrew Dillon has joined the Hawthorn Football Club in condemning the “vile and appalling” online racial abuse of forward Mabior Chol following the Hawks’ loss to the Western Bulldogs on Friday night.

The big forward reposted the social media abuse on his Instagram account after the game, saying “you can talk shit all you want, but don’t be like this guy”.

If police can identify the offender, who goes by the name Carlos and uses the handle @jyer419, he faces potential criminal charges.

In the country’s first online racial vilification case involving an AFL player, a 32-year-old Glenroy man, Ethan Quinn, fronted Broadmeadows Magistrates’ Court on Friday, 29 May, on a charge of using a carriage service to harass.

His lawyer told the court Quinn was not ready to resolve or finalise the matter, and asked it be adjourned to a further date.

Quinn is next due to appear before a magistrate in September.

It is alleged he made online threats against Port Adelaide player Jase Burgoyne and his family on July 13 last year.

Hawthorn CEO Ash Klein released a statement on Saturday morning in support of Chol, saying, “We commend Mabior’s courage in calling this out and we stand with him”.

“Useless fat dog your a lazy little maggot,” a screenshot of the abuse showed.

The messages that followed were racist and obscene.

A forthright Klein said the abuse was not acceptable, and there was “no place for racism in our game and in our society”.

“If you are the sort of person who thinks it’s OK to make a comment or send a message like this, we don’t want you as part of our game,” Klein said.

“Our immediate focus is on wrapping our arms around and supporting Mabior.”

The AFL integrity unit is working with Hawthorn on the matter. The person who sent the message has deleted their account.

“Racism has no place anywhere, anytime – not in our game, not in the community and not online,” Dillon said in a statement.

“Mabior’s courage to call this out should be commended, and our immediate focus is supporting him and the Hawthorn Football Club.”

The Western Bulldogs also released a statement on Saturday, saying they stood with Hawthorn and the AFL in “condemning the disgusting comments that were sent to Mabior Chol”.

“Using social media platforms to target players and spread hate is despicable,” the Bulldogs said.

In a separate incident on Friday night, Bulldog defender Michael Sellwood revealed he was abused over the fence by a Hawthorn supporter after his side’s thrilling six-point victory at the MCG.

Sellwood, who had several fiery encounters with opponent Nick Watson during the match, was running along the boundary line after the game high-fiving Bulldog fans when he stopped abruptly to exchange words with a person in the crowd.

“I’m not going to repeat what he said,” Sellwood told Seven.

“I wasn’t happy with it, but he cowered a bit pretty quickly.”

Sellwood said the fan called him a “weak something” so he pointed him out to security guards.

It followed Chris Scott’s call for coaches not to have to walk through the crowd after an incident at three-quarter-time of Geelong’s nail-biting loss to the Crows on Thursday night.

Scott spoke with Adelaide Oval security at three-quarter time after he appeared to be abused by fans at Adelaide Oval as he walked out to the Cats’ huddle.

“They’re nuffies, but that’s OK,” Scott said after the game.

“This is one of the best stadiums in the world – I love it – [but] no, it’s an oversight that the coaches should have to walk through the crowd. I don’t want to do it at any ground,” he said.