Collingwood Head Coach Craig McRae’s focus is solely on GWS ahead of Friday night’s Preliminary Final at the MCG.
Speaking to the media after training on Wednesday, McRae reiterated that the Pies were gearing up for a high-quality contest with the Giants.
“We’re just concentrating on the now,” he said.
“The now is we trained well today, and we trained on Sunday, so there’s little things that you tick off this time of year getting yourself ready for the opposition.
“We had a week of preparation not knowing who our target was so that didn’t come until Sunday, so we’ve got our sights on GWS.”
GWS’ offense has been a feature of their finals campaign so far, with McRae saying a team first approach to defence would be required.
There’s also been a long gap since last playing the Giants back in May, with McRae saying there wouldn’t be too much taken from that game.
“It’s a long time ago, they didn’t have Sam Taylor, they didn’t have Toby Greene that day,” he said.
“They’re in great form…they’re playing some super footy and we’re going to have to bring our best defensive game to match their offence.
“They’ve got good players across the field, if you went through every player on the field you’d go ‘oh this is a concern’.
“But we have a team defence so we’d like to back our system in.”
One of those key players up forward for the Giants is Toby Greene, with McRae coy on whether Brayden Maynard would be sent to him.
“He’s had a good record against Toby, but we’ll wait and see because we have certain layers of our defence that we like to match up on,” he said.
“He’s (Greene) a quality player and he’s so significant in the way they’re playing and they’re in great form so it’ll be a watch.”
Nick Daicos will return for the clash, with McRae saying he would be the likely replacement for the injured Taylor Adams.
“I think we’re going to use him where we need him to be honest,” he said.
“He might start forward, he might start mid, just whatever the game needs.
“It’s a great weapon to have when you’re bringing back one of your best players and he looks like he’s hungry and ready to go.
McRae did admit there were times when he didn’t think Daicos would be fit in time for the Preliminary Final, but praised the 20-year-old for his work ethic since his injury.
“I wasn’t (always confident). There was some concern because when a bone has to heal, no one knows what time that’s going to be,” he said.
“There’s an estimation and there’s a hope but still there’s a lot of things that have to happen.
“Credit to the medical staff and then to him obviously to follow the plan.”
With a sold-out crowd expected once again, McRae urged the Magpie Army to turn out in their droves on Friday, just as they have all season.
“It’s fantastic, we’ve said right from the start of this finals campaign that we’ve got a competitive advantage and it’s right here,” he said of the fans.
“You turn up and you see all the black and white, we love it.
“The roar of the crowd when we kick a goal and when we do something well, we get inspired by that.
“We want to take the fans along for the journey.”
