Collingwood coach Craig McRae has angered some footy fans after a cheeky act during Thursday night’s thriller at the MCG.
There were mixed emotions around the stadium after Hawthorn’s Dylan Moore went back and slotted the equalising goal after the siren.
Magpies fans looked particularly deflated after Darcy Moore dropped a mark in the defensive 50m arc and gave away a free kick for a high tackle on Dylan Moore.
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With the game in the balance deep into the fourth quarter, McRae appeared to get away with a cheeky act of time wasting before a centre wing throw in.
Hawthorn’s Tom Barrass had thumped the ball over the boundary line after Jordan De Goey kicked a high ball to the wing.
The Sherrin ended up in the hands of a Hawthorn supporter, who was left in the awkward position of either tossing the ball to the boundary umpire or McRae.
The premiership winning coach was seen barking for the ball to be thrown to him and the spectator obliged by tossing the ball in the Pies mentor’s direction.
As soon as the ball was released, McRae quickly turned on his heels and headed towards the bench without making any attempt to retrieve the ball.
The stalling tactic gave players from both clubs opportunities to catch their breaths and set up their defensive structures.
Holding a seven point advantage with three minutes remaining, it is easy to conclude that Collingwood had more to gain from the game being slowed down briefly.
When the ball was thrown in, it ended up in the hands of Nick Daicos, who chipped a kick inside Collingwood’s forward fifty.
While McRae’s act had no impact on the contest, vision of the moment has spread across social media.
One clip shared on X by a Channel 7 sport account has more than 45,000 views.
While many fans laughed off McRae’s behaviour as a clever tactic, plenty of fans have taken to social media to accuse the coach of poor sportsmanship.
One X user wrote: “Really poor sportsmanship there. He’s lost my respect”.
Another posted: “Blatant cheating that will be applauded by the AFL”.
Another wrote: “Against the spirit of the game”.
One social media user posted: “Bad sportsmanship”.
The vision leaves AFL officials in an awkward position after Adelaide’s Ben Keays was wrapped across the knuckles for a similar incident in March.
Keays cheekily appeared to tell a young Crows fan not to toss a ball back to Connor Budarick when the Western Bulldogs star was ready to take a free kick from the sideline.
The fan even pump-faked returning the ball to Budarick before snatching it away again.
It was reported after the round that AFL officials reached out to the Crows to tell the club the league doesn’t want to see Keays or other players acting in a similar way.
