AFL 2025: Collingwood has ‘learned our lessons’ with injured star Jordan De Goey

Collingwood is taking no risks with an injured superstar, declaring it has “learned our lessons” from last year.

Collingwood is erring on the side of caution with injury-plagued matchwinner Jordan De Goey as he battles a “reasonably minor” ankle injury.

De Goey will not play in this Friday’s clash against Sydney after being substituted out of the Magpies’ 17-point win over Carlton last week.

While the Magpies are hoping to have De Goey available the following week against Brisbane, coach Craig McRae says they will “play the long game with him”.

“He’s just got a bit of a grumbling ankle, we learned our lessons from last year,” he said.

Collingwood is taking the cautious approach with star Jordan De Goey. Picture: Morgan Hancock/AFL Photos/via Getty Images

“We’re not going to put Jordy out there when one issue could become two and we’re chasing our tail a little bit … we play the long game with him.

“We’re hopeful that Brisbane is the target but we’re not sure, that’s still the plan, we’ll take him to Adelaide and then to Brisbane.”

A sapping groin injury restricted De Goey to just 13 games in 2024 and he missed the first two matches of this year through bone bruising.

McRae says De Goey is angered by the unsettled start to the year but is confident in his fitness compared to last season.

“I had a good chat to him early in the week, he was a bit frustrated, because he’s one step forward, two steps back,” he said.

“It’s round 5, we’ve got plenty of time, he’s done a power of work to get to this stage.

“He’s certainly in a better position body wise than he was last year, it’s a minor step back.”

Collingwood is expecting the Swans to send tagger James Jordon to Nick Daicos.

McRae says the Magpies will “be smart and strategic” with their use of Daicos but know the star midfielder will keep his tag busy.

“We anticipate he (Jordon) will go to Nick, he’s played on him before, we just want to make sure we get Nick in the best position to play for us,” he said.

Collingwood coach Craig McRae says tagger James Jordon will need to get his runners on if he is to stop Nick Daicos. Picture: Robert Cianflone/Getty Images

“If that means sometimes he sacrifices his role for others, Nick will do that for us. Ii might mean we need to be smart and strategic with where we play Nick at times.

“Nick is normally first in on Monday mornings looking at tape of the opposition, whether it’s James Jordon or someone else who is going to play on him.

“If you watch him train he trains at another level, so he’s (Jordon) going to have to bring his runners come Friday night because Nick will be running.”