Mystery surrounds the injuries to Collingwood Magpies stars Darcy Moore and Scott Pendlebury after their impressive in over Toby Greene and the GWS Giants at Marvel Stadium
Injuries are almost certain to rule out captain Darcy Moore and senior Scott Pendlebury from Collingwood’s match against the Brisbane Lions at the Gabba on Thursday night.
The senior stars suffered interesting ailments during Friday night’s victory over GWS at Marvel Stadium, with both spending much of the game on the bench.
Collingwood coach Craig McRae described Moore’s problem as “hamstring awareness” and later admitted Pendlebury suffered an Achilles strain.
But this could be news for Pendlebury. He previously denied concerns about his leg on Fox Footy, saying he sat out much of the second half as a precaution due to ankle pain.
He said he picked up the injury against Adelaide the week before.
The Magpies will also sweat over the match review officer’s analysis of the Giants game following an incident involving Ned Long.
The hard-nosed Collingwood midfielder knocked out the Giants’ gunners by slamming his hand into the face of opponent Clayton Oliver during the 33-point win. He risks a one-week suspension.
The theme of the night was Moore. He was constantly limping off the ground and running back.
The key defender returned to the Collingwood bench for the first game of the season after a calf injury but could barely kick the ball.
“This is hamstring awareness,” McRae said. “For those coming back to rehab, he went through this about 10 to 12 days ago – same thing – and we just said, ‘No risk, no risk, no risk.’
“But we were in the game and you were like, ‘Can he progress? Can he take a few minutes?’ you ask. Because it’s important to see if you can spend a few minutes without risk in terms of rotations.
“Now I say this, but I only support the high-performance team. This is not my area and that’s what we did.”
“But he’s not right. It’s not 100 percent. Did he have a hamstring done? I’m not sure. I don’t think so… but of course we’ll do all the research and find out.
“We’re heading to Brisbane in six days, so I’d say next week is unlikely.”
Pendlebury would break Brent Harvey’s record of 432 games on Anzac Day, and the following week in an MCG home match against Hawthorn. However, this timeline was delayed by McRae.
“Pendles and I had a chat this week, we had a chat in pre-season, and it didn’t seem likely that he would go for this game.” [against the Lions on Thursday]and so we’ll probably stick with that plan,” McRae said.
“It was always our plan not to go to this game, so it probably fits that.”
McRae said he wasn’t sure the extent of Pendlebury’s problem.
“The paint is still wet,” he said. “We’ll have to find out all this. When we do, you’ll be the first to know.”
The football world will watch this match with interest.
Following their round eight clash with Hawthorn, Collingwood have an away game against Geelong at the MCG before heading to the SCG to take on the Swans as possible venues for Pendlebury’s milestone 433rd game (one point shy of Brent Harvey’s 432).
Despite injury clouds hanging over two key players, McRae was full of praise for debutant Oscar Steene.
The Magpies coach made a surprise move and started throwing Steene high. He quickly repaid his faith by setting up the team’s second goal with a superb cross-frame strike to Nick Daicos.
“We have a guy in the center who can jump and make first tackles on the ball and that changes the dynamic of the midfield,” McRae said.
“Nick can get in the game and Jordy [De Goey] “They can act and they are really good actors at this stage.”
As well as working his back, Steene also kept a strong grip on the goal square to score his first AFL goal. As the ball passed through the big sticks, he was trampled by 17 of his teammates.
Collingwood’s defense was stingy. Despite the Giants gaining huge amounts of possession and disrupting their forward 50, the Magpies’ defense remained resolute.
“The Giants are a dangerous team when they start the tsunami handball and we tried to be aware of that, but in the second half we forced them to fight a little more, which is what we wanted to do,” McRae said.
Nick Daicos dominated the night and was the best on the pitch with 36 disposals and two goals.
His brother Josh was not far behind with 33 possessions despite briefly leaving the field in the opening term with a shoulder strain. Tim Membrey led the scoring with four goals.
It’s been another disappointing week for Giants coach Adam Kingsley. They led the kicks and handball tallies, with an inside-50 score of 58 to Collingwood’s 50. However, they could not score a goal.
In the second half, they dug into the central square.
Kingsley said his side failed to maximize their entries or opportunities to score the winning score.
“It’s a connection,” Kingsley said. “I thought Collingwood defended well when they needed it, but I don’t think our connection is anywhere near where it needs to be right now.”
