It will be overwhelmingly difficult for diehard Brisbane Lions fans to look down on the Collingwood bench on Thursday night, see long-time favourite Craig McRae patrolling the interchange area, and think of him as the ‘enemy’.

To most, even wearing a black and white shirt emblazoned with a Magpies logo, the Lions triple premiership hero turned Collingwood coach will still just be ‘Fly’.

Always much-loved by Lions fans as a goal-kicking small forward who took role playing and forward 50 pressure to a new level, McRae this week will make his second visit ‘home’ to the Gabba wearing Collingwood colours.

On his first visit as Collingwood coach in Round 5 last year it was a bit of a novelty. Lions fans were delighted he’d won a senior job after a long and varied apprenticeship, taking over the biggest club in the competition after they’d finished 17^th with a 6-16 win/loss record in 2021.

So when he left after a seven-point Brisbane win it was like the best of both worlds for those who still had a soft spot for the long-time #4. The Lions sat equal second on the ladder with a 4-1 record, and the Pies were ninth at 2-3.

Not now. This week, as the Lions and the Magpies prepare to do battle in the semi-regular Easter Thursday blockbuster, McRae is very definitely in the enemy camp.

Since his first visit ‘home’ to the Gabba, where he enjoyed a stunning 82-2-21 record in his 195-game career with the Lions from 1995-2004, Collingwood have won 18 of 23 games, missing the grand final last year by a point before claiming early premiership favouritism this year with a 3-0 start.

Brisbane, with Sydney, West Coast and Western Bulldogs, is one of only four clubs that McRae is yet to beat as an AFL coach.

His open, ever-positive and usually jovial approach has won lavish praise across the industry as he heads a Collingwood brainstrust in which his long-time Brisbane teammate and ex-Brisbane senior coach Justin Leppitsch is his off-sider.

It all seems a little odd to many who originally thought McRae wasn’t cut out for the enormous demands and pressures of a senior coaching role.

But, voted AFL Coach of the Year by his peers last year after being named AFL Assistant Coach of the Year and VFL Coach of the Year honours in 2019, McRae has thrived in the job.

He’s taken his teaching background and more than a decade in AFL development roles and mixed them with his learnings as a player under Robert Walls, John Northey and Leigh Matthews.

It’s difficult, too, to believe that McRae, originally from SANFL club Glenelg, will turn 50 in September. But when you count the years of his coaching apprenticeship it all adds up.

He began his coaching journey with the Queensland Under 18 side in 2005-06, proudly seeing a record 20 Queenslanders drafted to the AFL, and has been full-time in the AFL system since.

He had three years as a Development Coach under Damian Hardwick at Richmond from 2007-09, spent 2010 as Lions development coach under his long-time captain Michael Voss, was head of development at Mick Malthouse and then Nathan Buckley at Collingwood from 2011-16 and assistant coach at Hawthorn under Alastair Clarkson in 2021 before winning the Collingwood job.

Oddly, McRae enjoyed most success as a player against Collingwood, posting a 13-2 record against them which included the 2002 and 2003 grand final wins.

He played in the first Easter Thursday game against Collingwood at the Gabba in 2003, when the Lions won by 14 points in front of a sell-out crowd of 36,803 and a national television audience of 1.3m – second only to the grand final that year.

It was a game shown live in Brisbane and pulled 374,000 viewers to beat the equivalent Easter figures for the Brisbane Broncos. A landmark event in Queensland football history.

It was also the first of 10 Easter Thursday games at the Gabba which have seen the Lions post a 6-4 record overall, winning their first five and dropping four on the trot before halting the slump against Collingwood last year.

Against Collingwood in Easter Thursday games at the Gabba the Lions are 3-1, having won by 60 points in 2004 in McRae’s last such outing, lost by 62 points in 2019 and won by seven points last year, when Lachie Neale was best afield in Kai Lohmann’s AFL debut.

HEAD-TO-HEAD

Brisbane and Collingwood have met 51 times since 1987. After losing their first 11 meetings, the then Bears broke through in 1994 but at the time of the merger it was 2-13 to the Pies. Since then the Lions have enjoyed a 21-15 edge for a 23-28 split overall to the Pies.

The Lions have enjoyed a 14-10 run at the Gabba after going 0-5 in ‘home’ games at Carrara and are 7-6 against Collingwood at the MCG and 1-2 at Marvel Stadium after going 1-5 at the old Collingwood home at Victoria Park.

BROWNLOW VOTES

Luke Power has registered most medal votes for Brisbane against Collingwood, polling six times for 15 votes. Simon Black (11), Jonathan Brown (9), Nigel Lappin (8), Daniel Rich (6) and Lachie Neale (6) are next best, with Neale having taken maximum votes in their last two meetings.

For Collingwood, Scott Pendlebury heads the list with 16 from Nathan Buckley (12) and Dane Swan (9). Steele Sidebottom and Graeme Wright, now the Pies football boss, polled nine votes.

BEST v BRISBANE

The highest possession count and biggest goal tally posted in any games against Brisbane were both set by Collingwood players in 1991. In Round 5 at Victoria Park Tony Shaw had an even 50 in a 22-point win, and in Round 13 at Carrara Peter Daicos kicked 13 goals in a 101-point win. Scott Pendlebury and Nathan Buckley have registered most 30-possession games against Brisbane with seven.

BRISBANE’S BEST

Tom Rockliff holds the record for most possessions in a game for Brisbane against Collingwood. He had 43 in 2014 at the MCG, while Alastair Lynch and Jared Brennan share the goals record at seven in 2004 and 2007 respectively.

BIGGEST WINS & HIGHEST SCORES

Brisbane’s highest score and biggest win against Collingwood came in the same game in Round 17 2007 at the MCG, when, led by Brennan’s seven goals, they kicked 22-17 (149) to win by 93 points.

It is the same with Collingwood – Daicos’ 13 goals set up a 26-16 (172) score and a 101-point win.

FORM GUIDE

Collingwood have started the season with wins over Geelong (22 points), Port Adelaide (71 points) and Richmond (14 points) – all in Melbourne. Jordan deGoey will head north as an early equal leader in the Coaches Association Player of the Year Award, having polled the maximum 10 votes in Round 1 and Round 3. Nick Daicos is third in the same award with 18 votes, while Josh Daicos has 10 votes and, with Nick, is among six players to have polled in each of the first three rounds.

Nick Daicos (100), Josh Daicos (81), Tom Mitchell (78), deGoey (72) and Scott Pendlebury (71) have been the Magpies’ leading possession-winners, while Brody Mihocek (6), Bobby Hill (5), deGoey, Jamie Elliott and Beau McCreery (4) are their leading goal-kickers. Ex-Lion Dan McStay has had 32 possessions, 14 marks and three goals.

In corresponding statistics in the Lions camp, Lachie Neale (78), Josh Dunkley (69) and Will Ashcroft (67) head the possession count, Jack Gunston (5), Joe Daniher (5) and Zac Bailey (4) lead the goal-kicking, and Harris Andrews (13) and Dayne Zorko (10) head the voting from the coaches.