Collingwood’s Head of High-Performance Jarrod Wade has confirmed that live-wire forward Bobby Hill has overcome illness and is available for selection for Saturday’s Round 21 clash against Hawthorn.
“Bobby had that illness towards the back end of last week and was unable to run out there on Friday night. He was able to get into some light training over the weekend on his own and has now returned to the group and will be available for selection this week,” said Wade.
“He’s bounced back really positively from that illness and we’re not expecting any issues for Bobby this week.”
Head Coach Craig McRae lauded the forward’s work rate when announcing he would return to the team for the Saturday clash against the Hawks.
“Bobby will play, he’ll be hard to hold out of the team, his performances this year warrant that. You earn certain things in life, don’t you? They say the harder you work, the luckier you get and he’s been working pretty hard,” said McRae
In more positive news for the Pies, young midfielder Finlay Macrae looks likely for a return to football in the next few weeks following successful surgery on his broken thumb.
“He had successful surgery on that thumb and spent the last week recovering from that surgery. He’s seen the surgeon for a seven-day follow up and has received clearance to start activity,” said Wade.
“He’ll be non-contact this week and able to complete a lot of running and a little bit of ball work but in contact fashion and we’ll aim to do some contact early next week and we’ll provide an update on his return to play, hopefully it’s Round 22, if not it will be Round 23.”
Charlie Dean continues to build his training load on his return from a season ending foot injury. The young defender has increased involvement in the group’s main training and is working towards a full pre-season ahead of the 2024 season.
“If you come and watch training you’ll see him participating in some drills at the moment, which is really good. They’re all non-contact type drills and some of our open field drills, while he’s working on his agility patterns,” said Wade.
“We’ll just increase the amount of football he does over the coming weeks, with a look to return to full training sometime during the finals series.”
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