COLLINGWOOD has made a perfect start to 2023, but Magpies coach Craig McRae will now need to get creative in the ruck after No.1 ruckman Darcy Cameron sustained a knee injury on Friday night, days after Mason Cox was diagnosed with a haematoma.

Cameron was substituted out of the 14-point win over Richmond at three-quarter-time after hobbling from the ground and is set for between six and eight weeks on the sidelines with a medial collateral ligament injury.

The 27-year-old was spotted in a knee brace in the carpark under the MCG less than an hour after the final siren, with scans on Saturday revealing the extent of the injury.

With Cox ruled out in the short-term, Aiden Begg at least a month away with a back injury, 19-year-old rookie Oscar Steene is the only recognised ruckman available ahead of next week’s traditional Easter Thursday fixture against Brisbane.

Collingwood also traded away two-time Copeland Trophy winner and dual All-Australian Brodie Grundy during last year’s trade period.

“We’ve had a bad week in the ruck stakes,” McRae said after the 14-point win on Friday night. 

“We lost Mason for a period of time. Now it looks like Darcy will be out for a significant period.

“We’ll find out more, but the initial diagnosis is a high-grade MCL. I don’t know how long that it is. We will wait and see.”

McRae said Collingwood will consider Steene, who joined the club in February ahead of the pre-season supplemental selection period deadline, but is reluctant to play someone before they are ready for AFL level.

“I’m rapt how he is going. He is a 19-year-old. I’m rapt how he is developing. I’ve always believed with my development hat on that we set people up to succeed,” he said.

“We’ll have to weigh up whether that’s the case with him, whether it’s too early. I’m not saying it’s impossible, but I want to set players up to succeed. It might be a bit early for him.”

With versatile key position player Nathan Kreuger still at least a month away from returning from the second shoulder reconstruction he has had since joining the club at the end of 2021, McRae might need to explore Dan McStay, Ash Johnson or Billy Frampton.

“I half joked with Jamie [Elliott] on the way out that he might be rucking next week,” he said.

“I don’t know yet. Funnily enough, we talked about this before the game yesterday and what if Darcy went down. We have a few things up our sleeve, but it’s a shame. We hope it’s good news and our thoughts and prayers are with him.”

Frampton showed why Collingwood went and plucked him out of West Lakes – where he spent most of 2022 playing in the SANFL – restricting reigning Jack Dyer Medallist Tom Lynch to just one goal and seven touches on Friday night.

McRae considered the former Adelaide and Port Adelaide tall utility instead of Nathan Murphy in round one following an eye-catching pre-season, before Frampton replaced Jeremy Howe in round two.

MAGPIES v TIGERS Full match coverage and stats

“I said this a couple of weeks ago: Billy’s best will be in front of him; when he gets to know our system and believe in himself. It is a big stage, 85,000 – thanks to the Pies supporters that keep turning up, we love you – but for Billy he just looks like an AFL player,” he said.

“We knew this when we recruited him what he could be. He is starting to fulfil that. it is only early days, but that’s a good performance from Billy. We’ll have to wait and see (if we use him in the ruck).”

After undergoing surgery to repair the forearm he shattered in the round one win over Geelong, Howe returned to hospital this week to treat an infection in his arm, which will delay his recovery.

The Pies' performance spoiled Damien Hardwick’s 300th game in charge of Richmond, but the triple premiership coach expects to regain Dustin Martin (hamstring), Jacob Hopper (ankle) and Jayden Short (calf) for next Saturday’s twilight fixture against the Western Bulldogs, while Robbie Tarrant will play some minutes in the VFL on Saturday.

“I think Hopper, Dustin and Short will all play next week,” Hardwick said.

“[Tarrant] will play a half tomorrow, which will be good. He has had a bit of an indifferent pre-season, but he is an experienced campaigner.”

Richmond conceded 13 of the 14 scores and Hardwick was left to lament the Tigers’ inadequate ball use in the first half that led to 28 turnovers in the forward half, before correcting the issue after the main break.

“Probably initially (lucky to still be in it at half-time) when you have that many entries. It was a bit like us at stages. I thought we just have away the ball. We had 28 giveaway turnovers in the front half. That’s through nothing but skill execution errors. We had eight in the second half,” he said.

“A lot of that can be put down to Collingwood’s good play, but also our poor play. We didn’t use the ball anywhere near well enough. 28 is an incredible number, and you’re going to struggle to stay in games if you give the ball away 28 times.”