Collingwood Senior Coach Craig McRae spoke to the media this morning ahead of the Magpies’ Sir Doug Nicholls Round clash versus Kuwarna (Adelaide Crows) on Saturday.
Jordan De Goey
“Jordy got through training well, he’s got a spring in his step. He looks like he’s got some power back in his running and he’ll be available,” McRae said.
Changes to Collingwood’s side
“There could be some changes, we’ve got some guys that will be out with concussions, Jack Bytel, Harvey Harrison he got through training, we just weigh up whether he’ll be available or not. We’ll have to have a couple of forced changes.
Tom Mitchell
“Tom won’t play. Tom’s got that foot issue that’s still just lingering around so he won’t play.
Tall forwards and forward structure
“Good to see Checkers get through training, looks like he’s getting closer to returning, maybe next week, we’ll see how that goes.
“We’ve got to work through that (forward structure), we’re not there yet, we’ve got another hour or so to work through that. What we’re doing right now is finding a way to score. We’re scoring nearly every second time we go inside 50 which is a high percentage, so it’s not so much the size of the person, it’s the person who plays the role there.
“Our forwards under Scott Selwood do a fantastic job at getting the ball to ground. I think we’re one of the best teams in the comp right now at ground balls inside 50 and forward pressure. Those parts of our game are sound, it’s just about getting the ball to ground and having the right magnets to make that a feature for us.
Midfield performance
“Hayden Skipworth (Midfield Coach) does an incredible job. It’s such a delicate place, so influential too. Centre bounces can be critical, we saw that against the Bombers, we got smashed in that area and then on the weekend we got really busy in there. It’s hard to say what worked last week works again this week because every opposition does something slightly different, it will be an important part of this game.
Coming up against Kuwarna and recent close finishes against them
“I think we’ve got two good teams that go at it and match up really well. There a really good contested pressure team and I think we are too.
“Then there’s a real butting of heads at times, they’ve got threats forward of the ball which we’ll have to manage and they move the ball really well.
“They’re a challenging team to come up against.
Ed Allan
“He’s getting closer (to a debut). He was a carry over this week, so didn’t play to put his name up in lights a bit more, but he’s the fittest guy on our list. His GPS stuff is more than anyone else, he does higher speed running better than anyone in our team and we like to think there’s a place for that in our team.
Lachie Schultz
“Lachie’s available. We like to think he’s in our best 22, so he’ll get a chance to come straight back into the team. He trained exceptionally well.
Playing in Sir Doug Nicholls Round
“We’ll unveil our jersey to our players this afternoon. Uncle Trevor Davis is the designer of our jumper, Leon Davis’ father. He’s an incredible storyteller so we look forward to hearing the stories, and then obviously the round itself is a great recognition of Indigenous players in our game.
“We’ve got Bobby Hill, Ash Johnson, Nathan Kreuger, Josh Eyre and these guys, Neville Jetta’s on staff. We love to express our respect towards them, and love them to express themselves. It’s a big round for all.
Leon Davis’ role at the Club
“(He’s brought) great knowledge and experience, I know just personally working with him I ask a lot of questions. You know ‘help me out here’, ‘what does this mean’, it takes us into that world, in terms of storytelling and learning.
“Knowledge is power and knowledge is understanding so we’ve been educated with Leon and now his Dad as well.
Supporting Collingwood supporter Jessie who was hurt after attending a game
“We want to win on the scoreboard but there’s other parts of the business we want to win on as well. We want to win on all levels, like the way we look after our supporter base.
“We get to experience it ourselves on match day, but we’ll come and go, the supporters will be here for a long time. A big part of our culture is to bring our fans along for the ride and this is a small part of that.
John Noble reaching 100 AFL games
“100 games from the mid-season draft – it’s a great story. It’s a story of resilience he’s been knocked back many times to be drafted and then he’s had to have resilience to get through last year and not be part of the last day in September. So we’ll celebrate that tomorrow and we’ll celebrate by doing well for him.
Watch the full press conference:
