Collingwood key defender Billy Frampton will play his first game for the Magpies against his old side Port Adelaide on Saturday, replacing injured veteran Jeremy Howe.
The Magpies used the other three players they recruited in October - Tom Mitchell, Dan McStay and Bobby Hill - in the 22-point round one win against Geelong last Friday night.
Now the 26-year-old will get his first chance in black and white, after arriving at the AIA Centre during the trade period in exchange for a future third-round pick.
Frampton played six games for Adelaide in 2022 for a total of 21 across three seasons at West Lakes, after playing three games across five years at Port Adelaide.
But after transitioning from a ruckman and key forward into a key defender last year, predominantly at SANFL level, the 201cm, 100kg tall gets his first shot after being named as an emergency in round one.
"Billy Frampton will play. We haven't announced that yet, so please try and keep that to yourself," McRae said with a grin at his pre-game press conference on Thursday.
"I had a conversation with him last week. We recruited Billy for a reason. If you go back to our practice games, he played on [Harry] McKay against Carlton and Howey and Maynard were our best players. It allowed those guys to get a different match-up.
"Then against Hawthorn he played on a key match-up and then Darcy Moore is our best player. He has that ability to take a key target away and allow others to get to work. Im excited to see what he can do."
With Howe undergoing surgery to repair the sickening compartment fracture he suffered to his forearm last Friday night and set to miss a couple of months, Frampton joins a back six led by new captain Darcy Moore.
McRae expects Port Adelaide coach Ken Hinkley to put some work into 2022 Rising Star winner Nick Daicos, after the 20-year-old showed no signs of second-year blues in a brilliant first showing in round one.
Daicos amassed a game-high 35 disposals, 10 contested possessions, nine score involvements and 579m gained to claim six coaches votes, behind only Jordan De Goeywho collected the maximum.
"If I'm the opposition I would tag Nick. Yeah, I would. He is a weapon," McRae said.
"You've got to take something away from the opposition. I would be looking to tag him."
Collingwood vice-captain Taylor Adams has been cleared to face the Power after copping a knock against the reigning premiers, while Will Hoskin-Elliott will be available for selection despite leaving training early for a personal matter.
"He [Adams] is fine. He looked really energetic today," McRae said.
"One thing I noticed earlier in the week post this game is a lot of bruises on knees and shins and quads that they didn't have leading into the game. We'll just manage those things like every week."
Emerging forward Reef McInnes kicked two goals after being injected into round one after half-time to replace Howe and is expected to hold his spot in the 23.
McRae said the Magpies would like to reward the 20-year-old with a spot in the 22 following an impressive finish to the pre-season where the Oakleigh Chargers product made a late charge to put himself in senior selection contention.
"It is affirmation for his pre-season. I said this leading into the game, we would like to reward him with more than just the sub. This week who knows, we haven't picked the team yet. He might be the sub again, can you keep that to yourself?," he said with another cheeky grin.
"Time will tell what we do with the team. He can come on and he can impact. His height is deceptive; he is the same height as 'Checkers' [Brody Mihocek] and slightly smaller than McStay. He is a weapon. He can mark the ball and he is aggressive."
