Brayden Maynard is the latest Collingwood veteran hobbled by injury after their depleted AFL lineup blew away North Melbourne.
While Magpies coach Craig McRae expects to welcome back some players for Friday night’s match against Hawthorn, he said Maynard will need scans after a planta fascia problem flared early in Saturday night’s win.
Maynard was subbed out of the game in the first quarter at Marvel Stadium, with McRae calling it an “actual incident”.
It left the Magpies in early trouble after Scott Pendlebury (illness) and Bobby Hill (personal reasons) were late withdrawals on Saturday afternoon.
Maynard was also rested from the away match against Fremantle two weekends ago because of his foot problem.
“He’s been having symptoms of that for a while now … but this is an actual incident that’s caused some sort of trouble there, so we’ll have to wait and see.”
Darcy Moore, Lachie Schultz and Jordan De Goey were among other senior Collingwood players sidelined for the 15.18 (108) to 9.9 (63) win over North.
“It’s a pretty impressive rehab group we have at the moment and most of them will be available next week, which is exciting,” McRae said.
In their absence, Nick and Josh Daicos starred and Jamie Elliott kicked five goals to spearhead the win.
Collingwood’s lesser lights also impressed – Oleg Markov was at Bunnings on Saturday when McRae rang to draft him into the side at the last minute, while Ed Allan and Will Parker also played their roles well.
Ned Long continued to shine in the midfield, racking up 15 score involvements, and defender Billy Frampton made some crucial spoils when North were pressing in the first half.
After a tight game, Collingwood blew North away with eight goals to one in the final quarter.
“The most significant message is you have to play four quarter, boys – you can’t just play three,” said Kangaroos coach Alastair Clarkson.
He also heaped praise on Nick Daicos, who dominated after a quiet first half.
“In the last quarter he was the superior player on the ground, really,” Clarkson said.
“That’s his capability. We did a good job to curtail his influence in the first half, but we couldn’t do it in the second.
“For his age, I’m not sure I’ve seen a player come in and make as big an impact in his first couple of years and then maintain that high, high standard.
“It’s a little bit scary, thinking he might still play for another dozen years. He’s a pretty special footballer, his brother’s not too bad either.”
