A former GIANT under an injury cloud, a GIANT named a Champion of Collingwood, plus all the latest news from the Magpies camp ahead of Saturday’s big clash.
The Magpies expect Adam Treloar to face his former club at Spotless Stadium on Saturday despite the midfielder barely training on Tuesday.
Collingwood coach Nathan Buckley faced the media earlier this week and admitted the former GIANT was below 100% fitness but wouldn’t specify what was troubling the inaugural GIANT.
“He'd be in some doubt, but we expect him to play,” Buckley said at his weekly press conference on Tuesday.
“As I've been pilloried for (commenting on), we did have a brace of games with not a lot of rest in between.
“You get to the other side of that and we were planning to take the early stages of this week to reset, make sure we monitor the group and then make the right decisions coming out of that.
“We will have the fittest, hungriest Collingwood footballers that we have going into the game on Saturday … and we expect 'Ads' (Treloar) to be there.”
Treloar walked laps and then completing run-throughs at three-quarter pace as he recovered from the effects of three games in the space of 12 days.
Buckley also revealed Daniel Wells and Henry Schade would return to the Magpies' side, after the pair was rested for the club's 23-point loss to Carlton last Saturday.
However, midfielder Travis Varcoe is almost certain to miss his second-straight game due to a hamstring strain.
Collingwood are also a slight chance to be without their captain with Scott Pendlebury’s wife Alex due to give birth to their first child this month.
“I will miss a game for sure. I have already said to Bucks that if it falls on a weekend, or if something happened, I would leave a football game,” Pendlebury told the Herald Sun back in February.
“I am not planning on having 300 kids, I am planning on playing 300 games, so missing one game for the birth of my child is not going to worry me - I think it is going to be pretty special.”
The connections between Collingwood and GIANTS are strong, with four players switching colours between the two sides, and last weekend one former Pie returned to the nest.
On Saturday night in Melbourne, the Magpies officially announced its 125 Champions of Collingwood.
As the club celebrated their 125th anniversary, GIANT Heath Shaw was named amongst the 125 players, alongside his father Ray and uncle Tony.
Looking ahead to this weekend, Saturday’s game will be filled with emotion for the Collingwood faithful as they bid farewell to legend Lou Richards early this week.
Richards, a Collingwood Premiership Captain and arguably the first truly transcendent superstar of Australia’s game, passed away on Monday at the age of 94.
A ferocious on-baller, Richards debuted in 1941 and was an integral member of the Collingwood engine room under both Jock McHale and Phonse Kyne, with his grit and determination immediately endearing him to the Victoria Park faithful.
“I think that people forget what a terrific player he was for the Collingwood Football Club,” two-time Coleman Medallist and Magpie legend Peter McKenna told the club’s website.
“I’ve spoken to a lot of players who lined up with Lou and they all said he was a terrific captain. People think of Lou more as the cheeky media star, and they tend to forget he played more than 250 games for Collingwood and captained them.”
Collingwood are one of just two sides the GIANTS are yet to beat, after five attempts in five seasons.
Despite that record, Buckley said the focus would remain on how his own side, rather than the opposition.
"They're a tough team. They've got a lot of talent. They run the ball hard and they're a very hard contested ball side," Buckley said.
"There's clear challenges for every team in the competition when they face the GIANTS.
"We've got to look after our own backyard a bit before speculating about the opposition and what we expect from them.”
The GIANTS return to Sydney this weekend to take on Collingwood at Spotless Stadium at 4.35pm on Saturday afternoon. Click here for tickets.
