Collingwood Senior Coach Craig McRae has addressed the media ahead of his side’s return to the field this Friday night against the GWS GIANTS.

The Pies observed the bye in Round 2 and head into this week’s clash with one win and one loss for the 2026 season.

McRae touched on the returns of defensive duo Darcy Moore and Jeremy Howe, reflected on the opening fortnight of his side’s season and gave an update on some other important players.

Moore and Howe to play

“We can stand here right now and say that they’ll be selected to play,” McRae said.

“A couple of weeks ago we had a go at getting Darcy to the line and he didn’t quite get there and then he got through the last two weeks of training.

“So did Howie so we’re excited to have those guys back.”

On the forward line connection

“I thought our connection inside fifty was really poor last week (against Adelaide in Round 1),” he said.

“The game before, a long time ago now in Round 0, we connected really well but we didn’t have enough entries.

“It’s been a bit of a mixed bag for our forwards, and we got to work the last couple of weeks on some connection stuff.”

Reef McInnes playing in the VFL

“It’s exciting, isn’t it? He’s going to play some game time,” he said.

“He’s missed a lot of footy with his knee and if you watch him train, he’s training with great intensity, so we’re excited to have Reef back in the VFL this week.”

On the league-wide soft tissue injuries and faster playing style

“I think we’re all finding our balance of all of that, some teams are moving the ball incredibly fast, and you can’t maintain the speed of that, and players can’t handle the fatigue of all of that,” he said.

“Other teams are coming to terms with, it’s hotter conditions … and the grounds are still hard.

“We’ve got our own version of it, and we want to control the speed of game at times and you’ve seen that in the early stages.”

Playing at Marvel Stadium

“$3 pies and $8 pints – Marvel we can’t wait to get there,” he said.