AFL 2024 round 18 LIVE updates: Magpies celebrate 2010 flag but Cats start as favourites

Collingwood premiership forward Jamie Elliott will make his return from a vascular foot injury with the Magpies making three changes to their side to face Geelong at the MCG on Friday night.

The 31-year-old was named in the side on Thursday night along with Reef McInnes and John Noble with Jeremy Howe out with a hamstring issue suffered at training this week, Brody Mihocek out after rupturing his pectoral tendon last round which should keep him out for the rest of the home and away season, and Charlie Dean omitted.

Geelong has named an unchanged side, resisting the option of moving Ollie Henry from the sub’s role last round into the starting team so his position in the team won’t be known until the substitutes are named on Friday night.

Jeremy Cameron is the current leader for goals against Collingwood since 2012.

Geelong big man Sam De Koning admits he didn’t give it much thought when Cats coach Chris Scott asked him to move into the ruck.

De Koning was an elite performer in Geelong’s premiership team in 2022 and Scott thought he could give them a boost in the ruck role.

The problem is that De Koning had spent little time in the role as a junior where his focus was in defence.

He is growing into the role and looks capable of starring in the ruck in the years to come and in tonight’s game.

“I’m a bit of a yes man - when Scotty came and asked me I just said yes and gave it a crack,” De Koning told Fox Footy.

“I’m just trying to learn the position. You learn as you go and try to impact the game as much as I can.

“Collingwood have said they are going to come out with a lot of pressure, we are going to be out there to match them.”

Club efforts to convince star players such as West Coast sensation Harley Reid, North Melbourne star Luke Davies-Uniacke and Port Adelaide dynamo Zak Butters to leave their clubs will increase significantly if the AFL allows clubs to trade future picks two years in advance.

That’s the view of three industry sources speaking on the condition of anonymity as the AFL considers changes to the player-movement rules, which includes increasing the number of years in advance clubs can trade picks from one year to two years.

One of the barriers stopping clubs from making big-money plays for the game’s best players has been their inability to come up with a trade package that would at least make the rival club consider the deal.

But with most clubs having the salary-cap space to dangle big offers at players, a more significant question has become whether a realistic deal can be reached, particularly if a player is still under contract. The potential to offer picks in three successive drafts makes mega deals involving big names more realistic.

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Key Collingwood forward Dan McStay will play limited minutes in the VFL just eight months after rupturing his anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) at training.

Fellow goal-kicking ace Jamie Elliott is likely to be included for the Magpies’ crucial clash with Geelong on Friday night if he pulls up well following training after dealing with a niggling vascular issue for two months.

McStay, who missed the Pies’ grand final win last year due to a separate knee injury, was given a rousing reception by teammates at training on Wednesday after being a confirmed inclusion for the club’s VFL team.

An ACL injury generally rules AFL players out for 12 months, but McStay will be back out there in less than nine.

His comeback game against the Cats will be at the same ground - Victoria Park - where he suffered the serious injury in December.

Despite Collingwood struggling with injuries to forwards - most recently to Brody Mihocek - coach Craig McRae has resisted the temptation to rush McStay straight back in at AFL level.

“He’s been out for eight months and it’s a great testament to how hard he’s worked to get to get his chance to come back and play,” McRae said.

“At AFL level you can’t compromise ... if we want him to play a certain amount of minutes and then come off and get some treatment.

“Funnily enough for the last two months I’ve thought ‘geez, he looks like he’s ready to play’.

“He’s so strong and it’s a testament to our high performance team ... I know he set himself up incredibly well.”

Elliott hasn’t played since the Magpies’ round-nine win against Carlton and his expected presence will be important.

“He looks like he’s fit and ready to go,” McRae said of Elliott.

“If training form is anything to go by it’s going to be hard not to pick him.”

Veteran swingman Jeremy Howe experienced some hamstring tightness at training on Monday and is unlikely to face Geelong.

The 34-year-old failed to complete Wednesday’s session, with McRae all but ruling him out.

“I haven’t got the latest update but it’d be unlikely he plays,” McRae said.

The positive news about McStay and Elliott was offset by the medical retirement of forward Josh Carmichael due to concussion earlier on Wednesday.

Carmichael is the second Collingwood player, after premiership hero Nathan Murphy, to be forced to call it quits this year because of a head knock.

The 24-year-old played eight games for the Magpies after being selected in the 2022 mid-season draft.

“This young lad’s got ongoing symptoms, which we don’t wish on anyone,” McRae said.

“Now it’s a moment for him to sort of take the football away and get himself right to be able to live a normal life.

“We want our footballers to leave this environment as better people and be able to be fathers and husbands.”

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Neither side has made a late change. Ollie Henry (Cats) and Reef McInnes (Pies) are the subs.

Geelong coach Chris Scott insists Tom Stewart’s masterful move into the midfield has been driven by the player himself, rather than coaches alone.

Moving key defender Sam De Koning into the ruck and star backman Stewart on ball has been crucial to Geelong’s past two wins.

But ahead of Friday night’s clash with Collingwood at the MCG, Scott insisted both moves were made as a “collaboration” with the player.

“I hope I’m never that type of coach that sits there by myself and decides ‘this is what we’re going to do, hell or high water’,” he said.

“It’s a collaboration and the most important person in that collaboration is the player himself.

“We made that shift with Tom Stewart for example. I’ve got no interest in forcing a round peg into a square hole.

“Tom had to be bought into the idea and really, in the execution of it and even in the planning of it, he was the central one and I was the support act there.”

Scott stressed the Cats would rather go with “a slightly inferior plan” that the players bought into.

“Because after all, they’re the ones who have got to do it, who have got to think through it when the plan goes slightly awry - which it always does, that’s AFL footy,” he said.

Stewart has embraced the role, averaging 24.5 disposals, nine contested possessions and 9.5 marks across the past two weeks.

“You might remember about 12 months ago he played a little bit of midfield,” Scott said.

“So this is not something where we’re like ‘we need to have a crisis meeting and change the plan’ - this is something that’s been evolving over a long period of time.

“The point that I’m trying to be specific with is that Tom should take the credit for the evolution of that plan and the execution.”

Magpies dynamo Nick Daicos has been tagged on-and-off this season.

When asked if the Cats would give Daicos attention, Scott said: “Yeah but I think he’s a bit like Tom Stewart.

“This idea that teams either give them attention or they don’t I think is a little misleading.

“... It’s a bit disrespectful to them (other coaches) to say ‘oh because Tom Stewart played well, you just didn’t pay any attention’. No, the plan just didn’t work.

“Everyone has a plan. We’ll have a plan for Nick. Collingwood’ll have a plan for Tom Stewart.

“It changes a little bit week-to-week based on your personnel and your form ... so there are different ways to think about it.

“I’d prefer he (Daicos) wasn’t in the team, we wouldn’t have to waste five hours going through all the “what ifs’ with him.”

AAP