Collingwood look set to resist a temptation to rush Darcy Moore back into their lineup for their sudden-death AFL final against GWS at the MCG on Saturday night.
The key defender sat out their tight opening finals loss to West Coast with a hamstring injury, suffered in round 20 in early August.
Moore trained strongly in an open session on Thursday but coach Nathan Buckley said a match simulation didn’t mean the 22-year-old was ready for a recall.
“He trained really well today and there’s no doubt he’s progressed gradually as we’ve gone along,” Buckley said.
“He wasn’t ready last week but he continues to put a block of training together that puts him thereabouts.
“In the 20 minutes of match practice today, he looked excellent but the challenge is the capacity to play the full game out.”
Buckley said he would be guided by the club’s medical staff and also what he thought would be the strongest line-up to take on the Giants.
He said he felt the players who were involved in the 16-point loss to the Eagles handled the occasion well.
” If our medicos think he can get through a full game that’s ticked off and then we’ve got to work whether it’s the best mix for our 22 given our opposition and clearly there’s boys who have got their hands up and playing pretty well in the side already.”
Meanwhile, Hawthorn are tossing up whether to stick with two ruckmen in Ben McEvoy and Jonathon Ceglar to negate Demons star Max Gawn in their Friday night finals showdown.
“We need to give ourselves a chance to put our hands on the ball and then get the ball going in our direction. If we can do that then we give ourselves a chance,” Hawks coach Alastair Clarkson said.