Collingwood coach Craig McRae downplays ankle injury to Bobby Hill after training incident

Collingwood already has one of the longest injury lists in the AFL and a Norm Smith medallist sent a scare through the club on Thursday.

Collingwood coach Craig McRae was adamant Norm Smith medallist Bobby Hill would be fine to take his place in Monday’s King’s Birthday clash with Melbourne after he had to be helped from the field on Thursday when he rolled his ankle during training.

The injury list at the Magpies is already a lengthy one, with 13 names including the likes of Jordan de Goey, Scott Pendlebury and goalkickers Jamie Elliott and Brody Mihocek.

But McRae was confident Hill, who suffered the scare towards the end of training, wouldn’t be added to the list, with no scans required at this stage.

“He is fine, he just tweaked his ankle a little bit,” he said.

“We’ve got four days before our game, so there is no concern there.”

McRae also moved to quell fears over the long-term future of Elliott, who is receiving ongoing treatment for a vascular issue that former coach Nathan Buckley revealed left him with a “black foot” after one game.

I don’t want to push the panic button. But Bobby hill did seem to twist his ankle and hobbled off toward end of training. Hopefully some rest and recovery will help. pic.twitter.com/cblapJrs2e

— Jen 🖤🤍 Flagpies23 🏆 (@Jen2310) June 6, 2024

The club’s medical staff this week confirmed Elliott could be back before the finals and he returned to the track on Thursday morning to do some running after being given the green light in a positive sign for the 31-year-old who hasn’t played since round 8.

“There was some unknown timeframe around Jamie’s injury and we had to work through that, but we got some really good news during the week that the treatment he’d been using has been working,” McRae said.

“He is on the mend and he did his first running session today. We are hoping he is six to eight weeks away.”

The Magpies should get Will Hoskin-Elliott back for Monday’s clash and Nathan Kreuger could play his first game since round 7 last year after kicking three goals in the VFL last weekend.

“Kreugs has been playing some good footy, we just need a bit more time in his legs. He’s missed a lot of footy over a number of years now, so we just needed to get through some games. He got through a game and kicked three goals,” McRae said.

“The three goals is one thing but what he did was around that and playing ruck and other options. His name will definitely be under consideration.”

McRae also shut down any thoughts captain Darcy Moore could be moved forward amid the injury worries after the skipper said “sure” when asked this week about the possibility.

Originally published as Collingwood coach Craig McRae downplays ankle injury to Bobby Hill after training incident