Practice Match Pies v Cats

Collingwood News

Collingwood has named its strongest team of the pre-season to date for its final practice match against Geelong at Simonds Stadium on Friday afternoon.

Geelong v Collingwood Friday 15 March Kardinia Park, 4pm

The players the calibre of Dane Swan, Scott Pendlebury, Travis Cloke, Heath Shaw, Harry O'Brien and Alan Toovey all make their way back into the line up after they were rested during last Saturday's NAB Cup loss to Brisbane.
Retained in the 26-man squad are rookies Sam Dwyer, Jack Frost and Caolan Mooney. All three are in contention to be named as the club's second nominated rookie (the other is likely to be ruckman Ben Hudson) when the lists are finalised on 19 March.
The influx of some of the club's biggest names is the most obvious indication that the coaching staff has begun to finalise its preparations ahead of the first home and away match against North Melbourne in two week's time.
After Saturday's loss to the Lions, Nathan Buckley told of his relief to be reaching the stage where his players will be able to get vital match fitness under their belts in home and away conditions.
"We've been really happy with our preparation to date so the opportunity now is to take on a Geelong side that's young and full of running at the moment but obviously got some experience as well.
"They're not in a dissimilar position to where we are list wise so that'll be a good challenge for us.
"It'll be our last opportunity to get game time into our squad before round one versus North Melbourne.
"The other real big positive is that we'll play 3-1 (three interchange players with one substitute) with unlimited rotations and we will be able to practice and get a feel for what home and away feels like.
"We've played under three different interchange systems over the last three weeks and we're looking forward to getting back to what we know."
Experienced ruckman Ben Hudson has not been named, meaning that the ruck division will be carried by Darren Jolly and Jarrod Witts. The 20-year-old Witts is yet to feature at senior level, but has been named in each of Collingwood's five pre-season teams which indicates that he may be in the frame for a round one debut.
Those who were a part of last week's 24-man team to have been left out of Friday's squad include Josh Thomas, Ben Kennedy, Kyle Martin, Adam Oxley and Marley Williams.

Collingwood's Practice Match Squad
2. Jordan Russell 3. Brent Macaffer 5. Nick Maxwell 6. Tyson Goldsack 8. Harry O'Brien 9. Marty Clarke 10. Scott Pendlebury 11. Jarryd Blair 14. Clinton Young 15. Jarrod Witts 16. Nathan Brown 17. Dayne Beams 18. Darren Jolly 19. Jamie Elliott	21. Quinten Lynch 22. Steele Sidebottom 26. Ben Johnson 28. Ben Sinclair 32. Travis Cloke 34. Alan Toovey 36. Dane Swan 39. Heath Shaw 40. Paul Seedsman 41. Sam Dwyer* 45. Jack Frost* 48. Caolan Mooney* *Denotes rookies
IN: Travis Cloke, Jamie Elliott, Harry O'Brien, Scott Pendlebury, Heath Shaw, Dane Swan, Alan Toovey
OUT: Ben Kennedy, Kyle Martin*, Adam Oxley*, Josh Thomas, Marley Williams
NOT NAMED: Luke Ball, Alan Didak, Alex Fasolo, Ben Hudson*, Lachlan Keeffe, Andrew Krakouer, Jackson Paine, Ben Reid, Dale Thomas.