Mason Cox will return for his first match since round two after overcoming a spleen injury, in a welcome boost to Collingwood’s tall stocks.
The 32-year-old copped a knee into his body, and lost two or three litres of blood after suffering internal injuries, which have kept him sidelined since the Magpies’ second round thumping of Port Adelaide.
Mason Cox is set to return for the Magpies on Sunday,Credit: Jason South
Darcy Cameron then suffered a PCL injury in round three, leaving the Magpies without a dedicated ruckman, but former Crow Billy Frampton has shouldered the load with assistance from Ash Johnson and Nathan Kreuger.
With Kreuger sidelined due to a rib injury, sustained in Sunday’s one-point win over the Crows, Cox will be a handy inclusion for the Pies who face the Swans in a preliminary final rematch.
“He got through training, and he’ll play,” Magpies coach Craig McRae said on Friday.
“It’s good to have someone tall back in the team but also allows other things to fall into place. We’ve had some moving parts in our team, everyone sees that, and now hopefully we get some stability in that part of the game.
“To have the moving parts of, like, Billy out of the backline or Ash Johnson, or whoever it has been, has been a cost elsewhere to our game. It’s nice to have that one little chess piece back in its position.”
Asked how Cox’s fitness was, McRae said: “That was the concern, has he done enough work?
“I back in our high-performance team, Jarrod Wade, how could you not, and he’s put him up for selection, so we’ll go for it.
“He hadn’t done any physical contact until today, so I think he was making a statement [at training].”
The Magpies will also welcome back former captain Scott Pendlebury, who missed one match with an eye injury.
McRae said he was under no illusion as to what the Swans would bring, despite losses in four of their past five games.
“Look at the teams they’ve played in the past five rounds, they’re all in the eight and right up the top of the ladder,” he said.
“We know what’s coming, and we’ve got to be ready … particularly their pressure, they’re the No.1 pressure team in the competition, and they’ve got a jump on us the last few times we’ve played them too.
“We’re going to have to bring our A-game.”
Harvey Harrison was named in an extended squad, but McRae said a decision would still need to be made whether the young midfielder would make his debut.
McRae said Patrick Lipinski and Dan McStay are both on track to return around King’s Birthday or the mid-season bye.
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