“I’m speaking with Steele and Pendles regularly – like weekly and fortnightly – not just about the future but about the now,” McRae said.

“But we’re not there yet … respectfully, we want to honor our greats and those two in particular, they live in that bracket.”

McRae suggested that recent discussions about Collingwood’s list have been overly reactionary.

“Funnily enough, when it’s a premiership list it’s bulletproof, and then when it’s not, it’s got holes everywhere in it,” he said.

“But we’re going to have a more futuristic view on that … I’ll leave it to others to handle those details.”

“We’ll be collective in ensuring we steer this footy club in the right direction.”

Collingwood is currently a game-and-a-half outside the top eight, with the lowest percentage among the top 13 teams, ahead of Sunday’s clash with Richmond.

The Pies’ forward line will be strengthened by the return of Mason Cox and Lachie Schultz, but the form of their premiership defenders and Jordan De Goey’s ongoing groin issue remain concerns.

McRae emphasized that there’s still much to gain from the final five rounds, and the finals equation will resolve itself.

“We never talked about finals last year – we talk about winning a lot, but we actually don’t talk about winning the game because that’s so much out of our control,” he said.

“It’s about the behaviours to be a winner, so nothing about the finals other than trying to be the best version of ourselves and get this thing moving.”