Collingwood has confirmed the return of defender Jeremy Howe for the Magpies’ crunch clash with the Hawthorn Hawks on Thursday night.
The interceptor has missed the past three games with a groin injury, with the Pies desperately missing his presence in defence, with Patrick Voss (five goals) and Logan Morris (six goals) having career-best days in Magpies losses in recent weeks.
Howe’s return will be crucial against a Hawthorn side that played four talls last week.
Having spent much of the season on top of the AFL ladder, Collingwood dropped to second on the table after its third loss in four games against Brisbane, but will be hoping to bounce back.
The Pies also have the option of bringing in Billy Frampton, who played his second game back from injury at VFL level last week.
“Jeremy will definitely play, he got through today well and will definitely play,” Pies coach Craig McRae said.
“Billy’s name will come up into consideration. I loved his game at VFL.
“The week before was about getting minutes, (the weekend) was about performance, and I thought he performed well.
“We’ll put some question marks about his magnet.”
Meanwhile, small forward Bobby Hill is in some doubt as he is currently battling gastro.
Hill returned from after month away from AFL due to personal leave, coming on as substitute on Saturday night.
The match will be two-time premiership player Steele Sidebottom’s 350th game and first-year Magpie Harry Perryman’s 150th.
“We want to celebrate the great man,” McRae said of Sidebottom.
“It’s not too often you have people in your environment who get to play 350 games for one club, and this young man has done huge things for our footy club.
“He’s always smiling, he’s always cheeky, he’s always at his best and still performing arguably as (well) as he’s ever played.
“We’ll celebrate (on Tuesday afternoon) with some past players coming in to represent a guy, and ideally we go out and play the way he does, with a smile on our face and make all our fans nice and excited for that.”
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