Collingwood Senior Coach Craig McRae has addressed the media ahead of his side’s Round 16 clash with Richmond on Saturday.

McRae provided an update on injured leaders Darcy Moore and Brayden Maynard, his thoughts on how the Club’s young players are progressing, and what to expect this week against the Tigers.

Moore’s timeline

“He’s progressing. We stand in front of you a week later and there’s more evidence to suggest he’s moving in the right direction,” McRae said.

“There’s still a long way to go. He did a good running session today so got a good block under him and as far as I’m aware the timeline is the timeline.

“I don’t know what it is and I don’t even think they (the High Performance team) know what it is.

“Look to progress, get better every session and at this stage he’s doing that.”

When Maynard will return

“He’s a week-to-week, but at this stage he’s bullish that he can play next week, but he was bullish he could play next week,” he said.

“It’s a strength thing. These shoulders that pop in and out … if they pop in and out, they need to be re-strengthened.

“Some of them can hold, but in reality, most at some stage get stressed and then you go in for a full reconstruction, that’s my understanding of it.

“We’re going to take some risks on him and Hayesy (Will Hayes), and Howsie (Noah Howes), in the VFL program, those three of them have similar injuries.

“At some stage there’s going to have to be a push to see if they can sustain the level of intensity required and we’ll see how we go with Bruzzy.”

Pendlebury to return

“Pendles will play. He may be the only change at this stage,” he said.

“We’ve got match committee this afternoon and he’ll come in, we’ll just have to find the person that goes out, we’re not sure who that is yet.”

Reflecting on the win against Port Adelaide

“We just want to keep progressing, I think we’ve got a little build of momentum in the last seven to 10 days post the bye,” he said.

“We’ve got an opportunity this week to grow again, we saw some nice connection stuff inside 50 in the third quarter that was really important for us and the last quarter we didn’t.

“It’s not a pattern of behaviour yet but this is about building some momentum in this part of the year which is really important for us.”

On whether there’s selection pressure coming from VFL performances

“There’s times that I don’t think there is, there’s not enough pushing from underneath,” he said.

“But I think in the last couple of weeks our VFL footy has been at a much better level and players are starting to play above VFL level, which is what we need.

“That puts pressure on our selection, and I’ve always wanted selection integrity and players playing well.

“Harry DeMattia for example, he’ll come into our squad because his last two weeks as a forward has been at a level that we go ‘that’s what we need’.

“We want to keep rewarding these young guys to get opportunities and then force their way into the team.”