COLLINGWOOD star Jordan De Goey has been cleared to face Fremantle in Saturday night's semi-final at the MCG.

The 26-year-old trained with the main group at the AIA Centre on Thursday but didn't complete contact work after injuring his shoulder in last Saturday's qualifying final loss to Geelong. 

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All-Australian defender Darcy Moore sent a scare through the Pies camp when he left the track early after copping a knock to his knee. 

The 26-year-old was assessed on the sidelines and later returned to the park and the Magpies are confident he will be fine to face the Dockers.

De Goey suffered a grade one AC joint sprain early in the six-point loss to Geelong, but produced a dominant display after returning to the field in the second quarter, finishing with 26 disposals, nine tackles and two goals. 

With vice-captain Taylor Adams ruled out for the rest of the finals series after tearing his adductor off the bone, De Goey's availability is even more important this weekend. 

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"Jordy will be right to go," Collingwood coach Craig McRae told reporters on Thursday morning. 

"We actually think he did more than what we were asking. He is confident that his shoulder will be fine.

"He may have discomfort for the rest of the year, but according to what he needed to do today, we're very confident he will play."

Collingwood's match committee will need to find a replacement for Adams ahead of the first final between the Magpies and Dockers since the West Australian side joined the competition in 1995. 

McRae is considering a range of options to help fill the void left by the inside bull, including Fin Macrae, Trent Bianco, Josh Carmichael, Ollie Henry and Callum Brown, creating plenty of debate at the selection table. 

"Do you know what I do? I actually take the magnets home and I sleep on them. If I get a restless sleep, I take a couple out. If I get a good night's sleep, those ones jump to the top of the queue," he quipped. 

"It is difficult. We don't have a plethora of Taylor Adams' on the list. He is a unique player; he is a contested player; we just don't have a replacement, that's the reality. What moving parts do we add? Can we get someone to play a different role?"

Adams is set to be sidelined for at least the next three months and may not transition back into full training until January, but McRae believes he can still make a contribution during the finals and might even sit in the coaches' box on Saturday night.

"He's brilliant in helping us be better, and then he will struggle on match day. He's already texted me saying, 'I don't know if I'll be able to watch'. He is such a competitor," he said.

"We're using his wisdom, experience and leadership to make us better day to day. We're considering having him in our box for stoppages. Not sure if that's going to help with his emotions or not."

After missing four months following a shoulder reconstruction, former Cat Nathan Kreuger was recalled to face his old side last weekend and was activated as the medi-sub when Adams was substituted out of the game with 15 minutes to play. 

Mason Cox has played the past 14 games straight since working his way back into the side for the most recent clash against the Dockers in round 10, but the American played only 46 per cent of the qualifying final. McRae is still working on the best fit with Darcy Cameron and Kreuger against Sean Darcy and Rory Lobb.

"The Mason one was interesting," he said. "It wasn't a directive. After the game I reflect on a lot of things, and one thing was why didn't we play him more? I wasn't privy to that at the time. I think he could have given us a contest forward of the ball. The three talls is something we are exploring."

McRae revealed he had a conversation with the AFL's head of umpiring Dan Richardson after querying some of the decisions – or non-decisions – made regarding the holding the ball rule in the loss to Geelong.

"I actually had Dan Richardson call me just to give me some clarity around some of the decision making. I'm comfortable with what we talked about," he said.

"It was just around a couple missed here and a couple of others that were a maybe. As always, they're allowed to make mistakes, as we are. The game itself is better if its live and open, and I get that. I'm comfortable with the conversation."

After rising from six wins and a second-bottom finish in 2021 to 16 wins and a top-four spot 12 months later, Collingwood is facing the dreaded straight sets exit this weekend, but McRae remains confident his side can endure what is required to progress this month.

"Embrace the struggle; the struggle is the way," he said. "This is going to be a struggle this game. If you're lucky enough to get through, then there is going to be another struggle. That will be a message that I will give tomorrow."