COLLINGWOOD appears almost certain to go in with an unchanged line-up for Saturday's Grand Final against West Coast, with defender Jeremy Howe getting through the Magpies' final training session on Thursday morning.
Howe had been a little proppy after hurting his left ankle in last week's preliminary final win over Richmond, but assistant coach Robert Harvey has declared the star defender is "100 per cent" after Thursday's session.
Harvey also said the Magpies' match committee was unlikely to swing a change and bring in Darcy Moore or Ben Reid for the game against the Eagles despite considering the option early in the week.
"Howey looked fine so at this stage – we'll go and have a chat now, but it looks all good for us to be unchanged," Harvey told reporters.
"He's done a fair bit and I reckon he'd be rapt with how he's come up so I think he goes in 100 per cent.
"I think he was a bit concerned after the game, so he goes in really strongly and 100 per cent fit which is really good."
Howe moved freely during the full session and took part in the club's match simulation that lasted for around 20 minutes.
He also completed a couple of flat-out run-throughs with Jordan De Goey, who also ran without any issues.
Moore has not played since round 20 when he injured his hamstring against Sydney, while Reid, who has battled a series of soft tissue problems over the past 18 months, has not appeared at senior level since round 10.
"They (Moore and Reid) both trained really strongly then, and I think Bucks put that on the agenda early in the week. So, we'll have to go in and work out match ups and where we look from that point of view.
"It's good to have everyone available. Those guys got through, Howey got through, so the availability is good which is the main thing."
Jeremy Howe looked comfortable on Thursday. Picture: AFL Photos
Moore, in particular, trained strongly, starting down back where he took off and ran and carried the ball out of defence, before pushing forward to showcase his versatility.
Both Reid and Moore were part of the "seconds team" which competed against the majority of players who took the field against the Tigers last Friday night.
Up to 2000 fans turned out for the Magpies' training session on Thursday and Harvey said the players were really relishing the support.
Among the throng, club president Eddie McGuire did his best to rev up the Collingwood faithful, leading a rendition of Good Old Collingwood Forever.
McGuire also had a cake that had been baked by a Magpies member.
Eddie gets the Pies fans pumped. Picture: AFL Photos
"You can see today that they really are enjoying it. But, you can see today, behind all that enjoyment and laughter, there's a steely focus behind this group and they've had that all year," Harvey said.
He backed All Australian ruckman Brodie Grundy to respond after the Eagles devised a plan to curb his influence when the teams faced off in the qualifying final in Perth earlier this month.
"Having known Brodie really well, he'll work that out himself," Harvey said.
"We've had conversations around it, but he's a very driven man so he'll come with his own plans and that first final they (West Coast) nullified him reasonably well but he'll be pretty keen to respond this week.'
Supporters spread around the ground to watch Collingwood players go through their paces. Picture: AFL Photos