‘As he got off the ground’: Lions legend on club’s crazy coaching tree and future Pies boss’ key act

Three-time premiership player Jason Akermanis has revealed what it was like playing alongside Collingwood coach Craig McRae during Brisbane’s flag dynasty, among several other big-name modern-day coaches.

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Speaking on the BackChat Podcast, the 325-game livewire revealed that the Pies premiership coach was “all over the place” when playing without structure, but his tactical nous — in addition to his skill — was evident in his days as a player.

“’Fly’ is a mozzie; they buzz around (and) annoy you … but he’s got this huge ‘thinker’ (brain). As soon as he got off the ground (back when playing), he’s writing lists,” Akermanis said.

McRae played 195 games for the Brisbane Bears and Brisbane Lions across a decade-long career, playing alongside the likes of Chris Scott, Brad Scott, Michael Voss and Justin Leppitsch — with the first three all current AFL head coaches, and Leppitsch McRae’s list manager at Collingwood after previously coaching Brisbane from 2014-16. Between the coaching quintet, they played 1,094 AFL games.

Akermanis’ stint at the Brisbane Bears/Lions spanned across a dozen years between 1995-2006, before moving to the Western Bulldogs for the final four years of his career.

“I thought I knew a little bit more than them at the time,” Akermanis continued tongue-in-cheek.

“Those guys, their leadership … they would sit in front of me in our (team) meetings. You’d have to sit in the same spot so that Leigh (Matthews) knew where you were, he’d get used to it — if you moved around, it would freak him out.

“I would be staggered if they didn’t agree, but to be a good coach, (it) wasn’t just because they were good leaders when they played. Coaching takes time, it takes five years to get your game … and if you don’t understand how to use the team … things have to change and you have to grow. Coaching is not just like (a) cookie cutter, it takes a lot of work.

“To those guys’ credit, they put the time in. ‘Fly’ did every job in the AFL really before (coaching Collingwood) … He was off the charts good, they loved him from the start.”

Akermanis kicked 421 goals across his 16-year AFL career, before retiring at the turn of the decade in 2010. Macrae retired in 2004, and begun coaching Collingwood in 2022, before winning the premiership the following year in just his second season in the role.