Collingwood’s Dan McStay preparing for comeback to AFL football in 2024

He missed out on a premiership last year, but Dan McStay is on track to have another crack in 2024. JAY CLARK has the potential return plan for the Pies’ forward.

Daniel McStay. (Photo by Michael Willson/AFL Photos via Getty Images)

Collingwood forward Dan McStay is on track to make a fairytale comeback to the Magpies’ senior side by about Round 20 in a major boost to the club’s back-to-back flag quest.

The gun goal kicker who missed the club’s premiership win with a knee injury last year could make his return to the VFL side in about six weeks and press for AFL action three weeks later.

McStay ruptured his ACL at training in November.

And former Collingwood favourite son Tyson Goldsack urged McStay to trust himself and the work he had done in his recovery after coming back in 21 weeks as part of a miraculous return in 2018.

It comes as the Pies attempt to stitch together a makeshift forward line for Friday night’s clash against Western Bulldogs without some of their most reliable goal kickers.

Jamie Elliot (illness), Mason Cox (knee), Brody Mihocek (hamstring), Joe Richards (foot) and Jordan De Goey (groin) are all out injured although Jeremy Howe (groin) could return this week.

Dan McStay is closing in on a return. Picture: Getty Images

Jeremy Howe will attempt to return from a groin issue, Billy Frampton could be swung forward, and Ash Johnson could be recalled despite some patchy form.

While the bulk of the forwards are expected back after the Magpies’ bye in Round 15, McStay looms as a huge inclusion to bolster the forward setup one month out from finals.

Goldsack played two games in the VFL after his rapid recovery and faced huge assignments in September against West Coast’s Josh Kennedy, Richmond’s Jack Riewoldt and ex-GWS superstar Jeremy Cameron.

He said he ignored traditional timelines, spent hours in the gym every day, was buoyed by Alissa Camplin’s 16-week return to competition from the same injury, and accelerated his program in the first six weeks with a quicker-than-anticipated return to running.

He said McStay would have to overcome a mental battle and the doubts which accompany a return from any ACL injury.

“Once you get back to playing it’s mental, but you have to be really aware of what part of your game is holding you back,” Goldsack said.

“It’s not going to be running and for me it wasn’t changing direction but jumping and landing and picking yourself up off the ground was my concern.

“In my first game against West Coast I would compete OK but if I went to ground I had to wait until I stopped moving until I would go to get up.

McStay on crutches after the 2023 preliminary final. Picture: Andrew Henshaw

“It was only a small thing, but I couldn’t just bounce back up off the ground.

“So you have to be aware of those little things, make some adjustments and experience all those things during the week so when you get to games you know.

“You are familiar with it all and what you can do.

“But you have to be positive and you have to trust the process you have been through and trust the people who have been looking after you and have been there the whole time.”

Goldsack’s recovery also included a three-week trip to Italy where he and his wife took their 10-month old daughter, Harriet, on long walking treks to help bolster his leg strength.

Western Bulldog Bailey Smith is also considering an overseas trip but is less likely to make a return to playing this season.

Goldsack said the power of positivity and his mindset also fueled his return.

“I’m not a spiritual person by any stretch, but the mindset of being happy was massive for me so I would train really hard and recover really well so the next session was going to better than the one I just did,” he said.

“So I didn’t want to take any backward steps and aimed to enjoy the process as much as I could.”

McStay was the Magpies’ most dangerous forward in the preliminary final win over GWS Giants last year before suffering a high-grade medial ligament injury.