Darcy Moore has endured more than his share of bad luck over the past six months.

The 22-year-old’s pre-season was interrupted by an achilles injury, which impacted his ability to train for his expected new role in the backline.

He rebounded to line up in Collingwood’s round one loss to Hawthorn, then suffered another setback when he strained a hamstring during the second quarter of the round two defeat to Greater Western Sydney.

The injury saw the 203cm big man stranded on 49 AFL games for the past month.

After a great fortnight on the track, however, Moore is back in the team.

And he will finally reach his 50-game milestone when the Magpies take on the Brisbane Lions at the Gabba on Sunday evening.

“He’s been really training well,” assistant coach Brenton Sanderson told Collingwood Media.

“He’s looked sensational. He’s really flying now. He looks really good, really sharp.”

Moore was the subject of much intrigue in the lead-up to the season as pundits pondered whether he would become a regular defender or end up heading back to the forward line.

His performance in round one did little to settle the argument.

He played mostly down back, and took eight marks while in the backline, but was moved forward late in the game as Nathan Buckley tried to engineer a comeback.

A suspension to Mason Cox then saw him start the clash with the Giants in round two in the forward line.

He kicked an early goal, only to have his day ended by the hamstring problem.

Now that he’s back to full fitness, there is more intrigue about where he will play when the Pies meet the Lions.

Moore has been named at centre half-forward, yet Sanderson expects him to spend time both forward and back.

“What we love about him is he’s so versatile, so he can play at both ends of the field,” Sanderson said.

“The modern-day footballer has to have a really open mind about what role they play.

“Most clubs now have got roles that are very specific and players have to be able to jump between all of them.

“Darcy’s fine with that. I think most of the guys handle that pretty well these days. Even Jeremy Howe last week, we sent him forward in the last quarter and he went okay.”

And what of the future for a player who has shouldered very high expectations since joining the club as a father-son selection in late 2014.

“I think he’s still very young in his football development but he’s got a bright future,” Sanderson said.

“He’s going to get better and better.”

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