Collingwood crashed the Western Bulldogs' party celebrating 100 years in the VFL/AFL, claiming a thrilling six-point victory at the MCG on Friday night to land their second win on the bounce.
The Bulldogs, fuelled by emotion and star turns from famous Footscray names in Sam Darcy and Tom Liberatore, jumped to an early 22-point lead, before Collingwood got into the game.
Adopting their old name of 'Footscray' for the evening, the Bulldogs hung in until Steele Sidebottom's late snap sealed a 10.16 (76) to 10.10 (70) win.
It harked back to Collingwood's heartstopping run to the 2023 premiership, albeit with fresh faces like Dan Houston, Harry Perryman and Tim Membrey.
"Credit to the Bulldogs, I thought they played really, really well," McRae said.
"Got a lot of their best players out and they just fought right to the last bit, which challenged us.
"It's just nice to have a new version of us but still have those tight wins and know what to do in those tight situations.
"There was a period in the game, I felt, in the last quarter that we just had a couple of chances to really put a big margin in it and that would have challenged most teams ... but the spirit in the Dogs tonight was hard to crack."
The crowd of 78,027 was an all-time home attendance record for the Bulldogs, celebrating a century in the VFL/AFL.
Friday night's win was Scott Pendlebury and Sidebottom's record 308th game together.
But defender Reef McInnes was substituted inside the opening 10 minutes with a suspected ruptured anterior cruciate ligament in his right knee.
Mason Cox came off in the fourth quarter after Rory Lobb caught him flush in the face with a late spoil.
Collingwood midfielder Jack Crisp could also come under match review officer scrutiny for a first-quarter sling tackle on Bulldog Rhylee West.
Nick Daicos (39 disposals) was magnificent, while Pendlebury (26 touches) and Josh Daicos (25) were busy.
With Marcus Bontempelli, Adam Treloar, Cody Weightman, Jamarra Ugle-Hagan and Liam Jones sidelined, it was another gallant effort from Luke Beveridge's Bulldogs.
Darcy, son of former skipper Luke and grandson of 133-game Bulldog David, kicked three goals in the first half, monstering Magpies skipper Darcy Moore, and four in total.
Stand-in skipper Liberatore, son of Brownlow medallist Tony, racked up 34 disposals and kicked a stirring late goal, with support from Ed Richards (27 touches) and Bailey Dale (31).
Darcy ran riot early as the Bulldogs nudged out to a 22-point lead, but Collingwood cut that to six at quarter-time.
The Bulldogs led by five at half-time, then trailed by eight at the final change.
Collingwood burst out to a 14-point lead early in the final term but spurned multiple chances to put the game away as the Bulldogs fought it out.
Beveridge wouldn't bite on the free kick count going 33-14 in Collingwood's favour.
"Give the boys credit, they hung in there," Beveridge said.
"I think Collingwood would be sitting in there and thinking that they probably deserved to win based on what the KPIs say and that's fair enough.
"But, ultimately, you feel like it's still one that got away."
The Bulldogs (1-1) face Carlton next Friday while Collingwood (2-1) have the bye.
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