“I’m really comfortable with my values and morals, and what people say about me, I can’t control.”

McRae said he spoke to the players for “10 seconds of a 30-minute meeting”.

“It was just addressing the world we’re in,” he explained.

“There’s heroes and villains, and wins and losses, and we’re all caught up in that. We play the game … which is kicks marks and handballs, and this is the other game.

“Sometimes the other game tries to get involved in our kicks, marks and handballs, which we try to educate our players around. Maybe I was a living example of that.”

McRae said he had not tried to track down the source of the rumours.

“My private life, we are very comfortable,” he said. “My wife (Gabrielle) and I have never been happier. What others write about is what we can never control.

“Am I disappointed? Yeah, but I’m not a victim. I’m here to do my job, and how good is the footy?”

McRae is lining up for his 100th game in charge of the Magpies against St Kilda at the MCG on Sunday, following a week in which he was made an AFL life member.

He said Collingwood would introduce tall timber Jack Buller, recruited from Sydney, to their forward line.

“He gets recruited for a reason and he competes hard. He’s a genuine forward for us, he’s a competitive guy and well liked already.”

McRae was confident the Magpies’ system would allow their back six to compensate for the absence of captain Darcy Moore and veteran defender Jeremy Howe.

But the Collingwood coach would not be drawn on a recent comparison that suggested St Kilda’s Nasiah Wanganeen-Milera had already surpassed Collingwood superstar Nick Daicos.

“Naz is an incredible player,” McRae said. “Wow, what an exciting player. You could build a whole club around him, and so great respect for what he’s doing.

“But I don’t like comparisons. I actually say to our players all the time, ‘comparisons are evil’ because you can never live up to someone else, so just be the best version of you. And Nick’s a pretty good version of himself.”

McRae said it was unlikely fans would see Wanganeen-Milera and Daicos go head-to-head on Sunday.

“That’d be pretty nice to see, wouldn’t it?” he said. “But I don’t reckon [Saints coach] Ross [Lyon] would allow that. I think he might have some plans for Nick.”

St Kilda have named recruits Tom De Koning, Jack Silvagni, Sam Flanders and Liam Ryan in a squad of 26 to tackle Collingwood in their opening round encounter. Draftee Charlie Banfield has also been named on an extended bench.

“They’ve all come in and there’s been a real team chemistry right from the start,” Lyon said on Friday morning.

“They’re extroverted people, they really give their time to our young players, they engage with our senior players, and more importantly, they train hard and they play well.

“There’s been signs that they’re going to help us improve.”

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Lyon said he would not be following a narrative that Collingwood was on the decline.

“They’ve been together a long time, and they know what they’re doing, so we don’t want to be ambushed,” he said.

“We’re not falling for [the idea] ‘they’re falling away’. Everyone’s there, the only two that aren’t there are really important … which is Moore and Howe, but everyone else is there.”