Collingwood Senior Coach Craig McRae has addressed the media on Thursday ahead of his side’s Round 9 clash with Geelong.

McRae confirmed a key trio who will return on Saturday evening, touched on Bobby Hill’s progress, and praised Scott Pendlebury who will equal the all-time AFL/VFL games record this weekend.

Key trio to return

“Howie, Pendles and then Beau McCreery - they’ll all be available,” McRae said.

“It’s nice to have your better players on your list available to play.”

Darcy Cameron’s fitness

“Darcy will play. He’s got a little bit going on with his body, but he’s fit and available,” he said.

On losing the versatile Harry Perryman to a hamstring injury

“Pez is a really good player for us based on where he can play, he can play in multiple positions,” he said.

“Last week we tried to get him to the Wizard (Hawthorn’s Nick Watson) and you see what he’s capable of if you let him off the chain a little bit.

“He (Perryman) can go through the midfield for us so it’s a bit of a hole we have to fill.

“Getting a couple of players back this week, in particular Howie will support our backline.”

Bobby Hill’s progress

“I think Bobby’s progressing. I’m sort of leaving it up to high performance (for) when he’s fit and available,” he said.

“He didn’t play a full game last week, as much as we like what he’s doing on the field, he’s still got a lot of work to do.

“Hopefully he trains tomorrow and then plays a full game (in the VFL on Saturday).”

On Pendlebury equalling the games record this weekend

“There’s a lot of attention and so there should be. He’s about to break the games record – that’s so significant in our game,” he said.

“We’ll continue to celebrate that part of this incredible player within our building and not walk past it.

“We want to make sure we get that right. I’ve said that often, you don’t get to have legends, actually a living legend in your building (that often).

“What he’s currently doing is quite remarkable, we’re all seeing that and we don’t want to walk past that.”

On stopping Geelong spearhead Jeremy Cameron

“We don’t have a matchup and maybe that’s it – we rely heavily on our system,” he said.

“A few players have to go through and do the job.

“When he’s up the ground, it seems less dangerous than when he’s inside fifty (but) he’s just a standout player.

“He’s one of the hardest players to stop, particularly when we play them, so we’ve got a bit of work to do.”