Collingwood Director of Football Neil Balme has detailed the injury status of a number of Magpies as the countdown to the 2016 season continues.
Balme confirmed that Adam Treloar, Jeremy Howe, Jamie Elliott and Tyson Goldsack are all on limited programs as they attempt to recover from respective injuries.
Time on the sidelines will no doubt be proving a difficult start to the Collingwood careers of Treloar and Howe.
22-year-old Treloar arrived at the Magpies after being troubled by osteitis pubis during his final year at Greater Western Sydney.
“Our main objective with him is to make sure that the OP issue doesn’t reoccur,” Balme told Collingwood Media.
“He’s joined in training… certainly the warm-up part of training for the first time this week. So that was a big progression for him.”
Howe also arrived at the Holden Centre under an injury cloud, yet Balme on Wednesday stated that he is currently being troubled by foot soreness, as opposed to an original knee injury.
“It’s a little bit of a stress reaction but we’re really pleased with how quickly he’s responded to it,” he said.
“He would be certainly medium term but we’re very happy with the way he is.
“I think he might be a bit quicker than we expect.”
Balme also took time to address concerns surrounding 2015 regulars Elliott and Goldsack.
“Jamie Elliott has a minor back issue,” Balme explained.
“It’s more of a niggle than anything else. We’re trying to take the intensity out of training in the short term to allow him to settle down.
“Tyson has been struggling with that (knee) tendinopathy. He had surgery at the end of the season which worked pretty well.
“He’s medium, maybe even long term with it… It’ll take a bit of time.
The club’s preparations to the upcoming season are starting to take shape with just over 20 days remaining until the start of the NAB Challenge.
Balme confirmed that Tim Broomhead, Ben Sinclair and Tom Langdon have now all resumed full training after various stints on the sidelines.
The progress provides positive news for Nathan Buckley and defensive line coach Ben Hart, with all three expected to push for selection in the Magpies’ back six in the early stages of 2016.
Three pre-season games await the Magpies, while the squad will also hold an intra-club game in mid-February.
While excited by the challenge of match practice, Balme is aware of the unknown factors awaiting.
“The challenge in pre-season is always the same. You’ve got to push them (the players) hard enough… because it really does require us to train really hard and push the limits.
“But we’re pretty pleased with the way we are… We’re in as good of a position as we could hope for.”
