Revenge not on Magpies' plate, says Buckley
Nathan Buckley says 2012, and not what happened in 2011, is at the front of his mind before facing nemesis Geelong in round eight
FRIDAY night's clash with Geelong isn't about revenge or retribution for Collingwood coach Nathan Buckley.
The Cats may have handed the Magpies three losses last year - the most painful the 38-point Grand Final defeat - but Buckley says a win this week won't atone for any of it.
He also dismissed a Geelong form slump and said the Pies were ready for the Cats' best, based performances previous to Saturday's 50-point loss to Adelaide.
"We're not going to make up for anything that's happened in the past. That doesn't get you anywhere," Buckley said on Thursday.
"We're just entirely focused on what we're faced with now and that's Geelong of 2012 and what they've been able to do in the last four weeks in particular.
"In the end, you go back far enough, obviously their performance against Hawthorn in round one - their only game on the MCG so far this year - they performed really well.
"We expect something similar from them this week."
Darren Jolly, Dale Thomas and Chris Dawes have presented a selection dilemma, having all trained strongly on Thursday.
Chris Tarrant also trained and will appear in the VFL this week.
The veteran defender hasn't played since hurting his calf in his first game for the year in round two.
"The facts are, Taz has put three solid weeks of training in, which is actually more than he put in before he came back in the seniors last time," Buckley said.
"He had a really bad cork the last training session before he came into that game, so in hindsight, perhaps we could have left it another week last time but it is what it is and Taz is up and about and looking forward to getting out and playing football."
Knee reconstruction recipients Brent Macaffer and Andrew Krakouer ran laps at training. Macaffer had his surgery in February, and Krakouer a week later.
Buckley said Macaffer was ahead of schedule and Krakouer's rehabilitation was "going pretty well".
"There's still a way to go and you hope for the best and plan for the likely scenario which is we won't see any of the three ACL boys or Ben Johnson back this year," he said.
"But individually they're working towards that.
"The expectation on [Krakouer's] recovery and his rehab wouldn't suggest he'd get back, but there's every chance he can if things fall his way and he adheres to his rehab program."
Collingwood has also announced a new sponsorship partnership with internet security software business, Kaspersky Lab.
The views in this article are those of the author and not necessarily those of the AFL or its clubs.
Jennifer Witham is a reporter for AFL Media. Follow her on Twitter @AFL_JenWitham.