AFL 2022: All latest news and training notes for Collingwood
Collingwood could be without two of its defensive linchpins early in the season after Jeremy Howe was injured during the club’s latest pre-season hitout.
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High-flying Collingwood defender Jeremy Howe will undergo a precautionary scan in the coming days after suffering an injury setback in Friday night’s intra-club clash.
The Magpies say Howe has a “minor abductor” injury, which came in the club’s open training session at the Holden Centre.
Howe was seen grabbing his groin after a marking contest and did not return to the action.
Although, Howe should still be available for selection come round 1.
The co-vice captain has played only 12 games in two years due to injury.
Craig McRae and Sam Mitchell will both begin their respective coaching careers next Friday when Collingwood and Hawthorn meet for a practice match in Morwell.
Collingwood star Jordan De Goey, who has had an interrupted pre-season, missed the Magpies’ intra-club clash with a rib complaint.
Magpies’ head of strategy Justin Leppitsch said De Goey would be “touch and go” to be fit to play in Morwell but remained on track for round one.
Ruckman Brodie Grundy also missed the intra-club with a minor illness but will be back to the club in the coming days.
TRAINING NOTES: NOT JUST DAICOS WORTH WATCHING AT PIES
Fittingly, Nick Daicos had the first kick out of the match out of the middle and never looked back.
The highly rated first-year player was in the middle for most of the Magpies’ Intra-club and looked like he’d been there for years.
Former Magpies coach Nathan Buckley said Daicos could have played AFL last year had he been eligible.
Fast forward 12 months and he already has the hallmarks of an established AFL player as he racked up the possessions on Friday night.
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For Magpies fans, he’ll be fun to watch and so will Jack Ginnivan, who looked sharp and dangerous up forward with multiple goals to arguably all but book his Round 1 spot.
Also up forward, Ash Johnson impressed and so did the talented Oliver Henry.
Elsewhere, the new sunglasses appear to have worked wonders for Mason Cox.
Playing mostly in the ruck given Brodie Grundy’s absence, he looked imposing and took several contested marks across the ground and kicked a goal.
Could he be getting back to his 2018 form?
The only sour point for the Magpies came when defender Jeremy Howe was forced off the ground with an injury concern.
He was seen grabbing his groin after a marking contest and did not return to the action.
Howe has played only 12 games in two years due to injury.
Moving magnets
Skipper Scott Pendlebury joked this week he wasn’t looking to defending opponents in his new role at halfback.
That is his new life now though, and his first taste of it on Friday night was successful.
Defensive coach Justin Leppitsch loves Pendlebury directing traffic from behind the ball, likening him to an on-field coach.
While he did sneak into the centre square on occasion, the Collingwood games’ record holder spent most of the game at halfback.
As usual, he was silky smooth and hardly put a foot wrong.
Will Kelly, the son of Collingwood premiership player Craig, plays at both ends of the ground but looked particularly composed when he spent some time down back on Friday night.
He’s one player who deserves a good run at it in 2022.
Recruits/draftee watch
Patrick Lipiniski already looks like being a very handy pick-up for Collingwood.
The former Bulldog was dominant in the middle early alongside Taylor Adams and Nick Daicos.
He’s slotted right into the Magpies engine room and looks like he’ll be a key contributor this season.
Fellow recruit and former Cat Nathan Kreuger also had some nice moments in the session.
He was recruited as a forward but played down back on Friday night.
Oh, and did we mention Nick Daicos?
Forget wing or halfback, as had been previously touted.
Get him in the middle for Round 1.
Who was missing?
The big two to miss were stars Jordan De Goey and Brodie Grundy.
De Goey sat out with a rib issue, but it’s not serious and he remains on track for Round 1 despite an interrupted off-season.
The midfielder-forward took part in a solid running session before the intra-club got underway.
Grundy was off sick and will be back at the club next week.
Isaac Chugg also missed on Friday night, but he also did a running session earlier in the day.
Key defender Jordan Roughead (shoulder) was the only other to miss for the Magpies, who appear to be relatively healthy in the lead up to Round 1.
Magpies reveal their pass mark for 2022
Collingwood head of strategy Justin Leppitsch says the Magpies’ time is now, boldly declaring the club is here to “win for now”.
The Magpies finished second last year and 2022 looms as a rebuilding year under new coach Craig McRae and a star-studded coaching panel, which includes former senior coaches Brendon Bolton and Leppitsch.
Although, the former Brisbane Lions coach and Richmond assistant said there would be no ceiling on what the Magpies could achieve in 2022 and urged the players to ignore ladder predictions.
“I don’t like the term development phase, and if anything I learned out of time at the Lions is that you’ve got to win for now while developing for the future,” Leppitsch said.
“I don’t care where you are on the ladder, right away you’ve got to give your fans hope and you’ve got to give your older players hope that you want to win for the now.
“You’ve got to do that, we’ll be doing that.
“But you’ve also got to have an eye on the future as well … but I’ve come here to win for now and I’m going to coach to win for now.
“Whether we do, time will tell, but I don’t want any one of our coaches or players taking their foot off the pedal because they’ve got years to build.
“The time is now and it’s always now.”
The Magpies played an intra-club on Friday night in front of their fans at the Holden Centre, with big names Jordan De Goey (ribs) and Brodie Grundy (sick) missing.
Grundy will be back at the club next week and De Goey is “touch and go” for next week’s AAMI Community series practice match.
Leppitsch said De Goey was still a good chance to play Round 1 with even one practice game under his belt.
“Yeah, he’s pretty fit, he’s a pretty good player,” he said.
“Based on the talent and the prep he’s had, I know he hasn’t been with us enough but he’s been doing a bit of work in the background.”
Leppitsch, who is the backline coach, said mature-age defender Charlie Dean is a chance for Round 1 following the recent shoulder injury to Jordan Roughead.
“Charlie is in the frame absolutely,” he said.
“His form in not just pre-season training but then when we’ve had match simulation has been good.
“No pressure on the kid, he’s in the growth part of his career so we can’t put too much pressure on him.
“But he’s upward trend has been really good.”
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