Collingwood Senior Coach Craig McRae spoke to the media this morning, ahead of Saturday’s clash against the Gold Coast SUNS at People First Stadium.
Jordan De Goey to play
“Jordy’s trained well. He's had a good week and he'll play,” McRae said.
“We were hoping that this was the game, and he's ticked all those boxes.”
Lachie Schultz ruled out
“Lachie won’t play. He's had gastro pretty bad earlier in the week and he's not going to get up to play.”
Quaynor’s health
“Quaynor’s got a bit of the man flu. He’s progressing well and we’re anticipating he plays this weekend and will train tomorrow.”
Joe Richard’s availability
“He's come fast because he literally, three or four weeks ago, we're thinking he wasn't going to come this quick, he was unknown.
“But he's trained really well, he's put his hand up and it's going to be an interesting conversation.”
Dan McStay’s progress in his ACL recovery
“He's into full training now. In fact he did some work during the Bye with the AFLW, he’s been consistently training.
“Jarrod Wade’s keeping that date close to his chest he's not telling anyone but clearly by watching him train he’s getting closer.
“He's running on top of the ground, he's marking the ball well and into all competitive work so yeah, not too far away."
Jamie Elliott’s recovery
“Jamie's just started a mini pre-season. He's only a few weeks away, I don't know exactly whether it's two or three or four but he's training like a guy that’s not that far away as well.”
Selection for Saturday’s game
“Yeah, this is the challenge. You’ve got these magnets coming back to play with and whatever it looks like, but magnets don't win games.
“We've had some players that have done a great job in filling voids, but also doing more than that. Whether it's Lachie Sullivan or Finlay McRae or Joey Richards, these guys have come in and done great jobs for us.
“It’s a real challenge right now to think that someone coming in that's got great experience whether it’s Pendlebury or De Goey and we’ll be right ‘oh now we’re right and play and we'll be away’, now that's just not real. And so we're going to make sure we drive those things.”
Coming up against the SUNS in front of a sell-out crowd
“Everywhere we go there's a there's a loud voice for Collingwood and we thank that all the fans enormously for how far they travel and how wide they travel for us. It’s a sell-out game, I think it sold out on Monday.
“But yeah, we travel well and we’ll expect a black and white army there to support us.”
Nick Daicos playing 100% of game time
“He said it out loud. So obviously, he's wanting to do it and he’s not playing far off that.
“But you know, he's got an exceptional engine, and he can run all day. And he's running harder at the end that he does at the start, which is makes it really hard for him to be tagged.”
