Collingwood coach Craig McRae and GWS Giants coach Adam Kingsley have had words with each other in a heated exchange on the interchange benches during their AFL season opener on Sunday afternoon.

Channel 7 cameras picked up footage of McRae putting his hands up to his mouth as he yelled something out across the divide to the GWS bench.

WATCH THE VIDEO ABOVE: Craig McRae and Adam Kingsley exchange words.

Kingsley’s ears straight away pricked up as he turned around and responded with some choice words of his own in McRae’s direction.

“Well, this isn’t something that you see every day, but when both coaches are at ground level, there’s going to be some heat,” Abbey Holmes said at half time.

“Have a look at ‘Fly’, Craig McRae, just might be yelling some advice, some feedback, over to Adam Kingsley, and then he sends it straight back.”

Nick Riewoldt said he thought the tension originated from an incident between Nick Daicos and Toby Bedford on the field.

“We don’t like to speculate, but we’re going to,” Riewoldt said.

“We think he was yelling out at (Toby) Bedford for the off-the-ball free kick against Daicos and then Kingsley’s come back at him.

“The coaches are going to stand up for their boys.

“Adam Kingsley, he bench presses about as much as any player in the AFL, so I’d be watching out if I was Fly.”

The back-and-forth happened during the second quarter, shortly after Bedford conceded a 50-metre penalty.

McRae could find himself in hot water with the AFL for his actions, given the precedent here.

Last year Port Adelaide coach Ken Hinkley was slapped with a $20,000 fine for his verbal exchange with a number of Hawthorn players in the moments after their semi-final win against the Hawks.

In 2021, Geelong coach Chris Scott was given a suspended fine of $10,000 for his heated exchange with some Brisbane players at a quarter break.

Speaking to reporters after the game, McRae said it was just a joke.

“I was just having a bit of fun with ‘Kingers’, (he’s) an old mate of mine,” McRae said.

“I was just stirring him up, I said ‘we’re coming’, and he just had a bit of fun.

“He’s a bit fierier than me; I’m a bit more humorous.”

McRae dismissed suggestions it was at all comparable to Hinkley’s incident last year.

“Oh, honestly — we’re all colleagues and I was just having a bit of fun with him. If it’s more than that... We shake hands at the end of the game and I said, ‘See you next time we play you’.”

But Channel 7’s Kane Cornes has a different view, saying it wasn’t good enough from McRae.

“This is off limits,” he said.

“You cannot have an opposition coach going at an opposition player.

“There’s a precedent for this, the AFL hate it, and if this Alastair Clarkson, or if this is Ken Hinkley, who got a $20,000 fine for that final, we know... Now this isn’t as demonstrative as what Hinkley was towards (Jack) Ginnivan and those Hawthorn players towards last year, but this is in play, this is during a game.

“And the risk that this really boils over on the interchange bench - this is closer than what Hinkley was to Ginnivan, it’s from a shorter distance, there are players involved - we can’t have Craig McRae going at an opposition player and a senior coach from the other side responding.

“It’s one for the AFL to really go hard on.”

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