COLLINGWOOD coach Craig McRae has revealed All-Australian defender Darcy Moore spent the past two days in bed with illness and was almost ruled out of Saturday night's semi-final against Fremantle, but managed to get to the line and help the Magpies progress to a preliminary final.
The 26-year-old sent a scare through the Magpies' camp on Thursday when he left the track following a knock to his knee at the AIA Centre, but it turns out it wasn't the only issue he had to overcome this week.
Moore followed up his outstanding performance against Geelong in the narrow six-point loss last Saturday with another strong finals effort, this time 15 disposals and eight intercepts in the 20-point win over the Dockers.
"He's been sick all week, so I'm just going to call that out for what it is – I'm going to protect my players," McRae said after the game.
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"I thought he was pretty good tonight. I think if you look back at the way he played and how he intercepted, the guy's been in bed for a couple of days pretty ill. I love what he does and I'll stand up for him.
"I hate it when the doctor rings me matchday and he rang me matchday, so there was some concern (he wouldn't play). Level of confidence was still there, but there was some concern."
After rising from second-last in 2021 to the second-last weekend of the 2022 season, Collingwood is now only one win away from returning to a Grand Final.
McRae was reluctant to even mention the word 'finals' in the back half of the season when the Magpies compiled 11 straight wins and won 12 of the final 13 games of the home and away season. Now the first-year coach is confident his side can go all the way.
"We're here to win it. One more game and you're in a Grand Final. We're here to win this thing," he said.
"We're going to work our butts off to get better every day to give ourselves every chance. We'll set ourselves up and we know what's coming up in Sydney, but we'll give it our best shot."
First, Collingwood will need to find a way to beat Sydney for the first time since it lost to Essendon at the MCG in round 16 – and the first side to beat the Swans at home since they were upset by Gold Coast in round eight, six days after falling to Brisbane.
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The Magpies were comprehensively beaten when they travelled to the Harbour City in round 22. Jordan De Goey was a late withdrawal on that occasion and is back to his best, producing two brilliant finals so far this September.
"We're better for the experience," he said "We played them three weeks ago. Jordy told me he didn't play so we're much better for it. I think we learned some good lessons and there will be time to talk about those lessons we learned. Tonight we're going to just celebrate the fact we've managed to make it to a prelim."
Of Jack Ginnivan, who booted three goals in another must-watch performance in front of an adoring Collingwood faithful, McRae said: "Jack is a good finisher, isn't he? He is an energiser. The crowd gets energised when he does things well which we feed off, too."
With star midfielder Taylor Adams sidelined for the rest of the finals series after tearing his groin off the bone last weekend, the Magpies' match committee went with Trent Bianco as his replacement in a move that caught some by surprise.
Bianco stood up in his first final, finishing with 16 disposals in a performance that drew praise from McRae and should ensure he heads to Sydney next weekend.
"I was really proud of Trent. He came in and do what he needed to do," he said.
"He gets caught up in making a couple of mistakes, but it's OK, you're allowed to make mistakes. But I thought his discipline to task and he allowed others to shine, too, just by doing his job.
"I did read a couple of comments when we picked him, I thought they don't see the trust we have in this kid."