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“I recall going to match committee at the start of the finals and saying,‘Hey,we’re no chance unless we improve by 10 per cent’,” McRae said.

“I felt Jordy was a significant part of what that could look like. And funnily enough he had great finals but we didn’t quite get there. We improved,and a lot of it was on the back of what Jordy did in those games. Unfortunately,he hurt his shoulder that restricted him a bit in the Sydney game but we’d like to think that’s a version of Jordy,the finals version,that we see now. What I’ve seen in the pre-season,he looks really happy.

Collingwood coach Craig McRae.Credit:Eddie Jim

“I’ve never seen him happier. He came back andhad an operation which wasn’t ideal but it allowed him to run,and he just looks happy. And I think when anyone in their life is happy they tend to be the best version of themselves in whatever they do. Right now,and it’s early days,but if you look he is smiling and engaging and leading.

“He has got a presence about his leadership which I had never seen before. He is invested,so fingers crossed,it leads to a good season for him.

“We will play him around the footy more than potentially he has in his previous career,but I think his fitness levels allow him to do that. I think we’ve got a good system that allow him to do that. He’ll still play forward but I think you’ll see him more in the midfield particularly early.”

In a wide-ranging interview on the eve of the season,McRae said he felt recruit Dan McStay would be better at Collingwood where he will be the key target,than he was at the Brisbane Lions as the third tall option.

He wanted to correct a misconception that McStay’s arrival meantBrodie Grundy had to be traded and that Collingwood had only chased the recruits they had because they suddenly felt they were “in the window” for a premiership.

He also spoke of his care and concern forJack Ginnivan after his drug issue and suspension.

The Pies coach revealed he meets with a group of senior coaches from other sports each month to trade ideas and that Australian cricket coach Andrew McDonald,who had just overseen the change of captaincy to Pat Cummins,had helped him with the leadership change at Collingwood that sawDarcy Moore elected captain.

He also rejectedthe common prediction that Collingwood would drop back slightly this year as it would be difficult to replicate last season given the number of close wins.

“I didn’t know there was a narrative around us for that[going backwards because of close wins],” McRae said.

“I don’t live in other people’s expectations. We live in trying to get better in what we’re doing.

“I’ll tell you if we won the flag like the Cats did we would want to improve. We didn’t,we finished third[so] we need to improve. The year before we finished 17th.

“Predicting is a funny game isn’t it. So,you’re going to predict where we finish on the ladder,can you predict how many injuries we are going to have too?

“All I can say is that I feel we’re better placed now than what we were this time last year because we are more advanced in our game plan,more advanced in our knowledge and our trust in each other,and then we recruited players that,we think,are going to make us better.”

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