Prior to Thursday night’s MCG matchup between the bitter AFL rivals, Collingwood coach Craig McRae has disclosed that he texted Michael Voss, his rival Carlton opponent, to offer his support. After dropping their first three games of the season, Voss’s Blues have yet to win in 2025, which has increased the pressure on the undercut coach.
Speculation has been swirling around the AFL world that Voss only has a number of weeks to either turn the club’s fortunes around or face the axe as Carlton coach. The Blues went into the new season as one of the teams fancied by experts to potentially end their 30-year premiership drought, but fans have been left fuming after their poor start that already has their finals hopes looking a little precarious.
Carlton have been overrun late in games in each of their three defeats and it’s a worrying trend that Voss will need to sort out as soon as possible. Another loss to fierce rivals Collingwood in front of what’s expected to be an 80,000-plus crowd at the MCG would be another disastrous blow for Carlton’s top-eight chances.
“I actually texted (Voss) on Saturday morning,” McRae said. “I just watched the game (against the Bulldogs) and watched him closely as a mate. This is a unique job… There are only 17 others doing the same crazy job. I understand what you have to navigate through at times… I reached out to him to see if he was OK. (But) this is probably not the week to catch up.”
McRae admitted the clash between Collingwood and Carton “means more” to fans and players than just about any other regular season game. And the Magpies coach warned his players would need to be ready for a ‘sh*t-fight’ against a Blues team he expects will be fully up for the battle.
