Collingwood lynchpin Jordan De Goey has opened up about his ongoing injury frustrations and his side’s sliding AFL finals hopes, ahead of the defending premiers’ crunch clash with Hawthorn at the MCG on Saturday. The Magpies have lost three straight games and sit 12th on the ladder, with a win against fierce rivals the Hawks essential if they’re to get their floundering flag defence back on track.
Craig McRae’s side have struggled for form throughout 2024 and captain Darcy Moore has copped the brunt of criticism for a series of underwhelming displays in the Collingwood jumper this year. De Goey has also faced a frustrating season that has been dogged by injury, with the explosive midfielder admitting that his groin complaint has been a “debilitating” week by week proposition.
De Goey has only featured in 11 games for the Pies because of the groin issue and says the lack of continuity has affected his form. “Come weekend you get all the adrenaline and stuff like that so that makes it easier (to get through a game but it) is tough to get the continuity,” he told Channel 7’s Talking Footy. “It’s just groin soreness or groin awareness (and) it’s just debilitating in terms of power. Over time it does get better. It’s just a process and you have to kind of push through this first phase.”
Craig McRae floats idea of Jordan De Goey positional switch
Magpies coach McRae admits he’s been just as frustrated as his star midfielder by the injury and accepts that he may have to consider a positional change to reduce the stress on De Goey’s body. “It’s been a battle for Jordy this year, battling his body and then getting himself right to be able to perform. There’s minor little niggles,” the Collingwood coach said. “We need Jordy at his best and… he got through training and ideally he’s one that goes out on Saturday and performs at his best.
“We’re going to continue to do that to all our players – put them in positions where we think they can impact and it might see a little bit of an evolution of Jordy’s game.” McRae acknowledged that De Goey may need to spend more time forward for the Pies, who will be boosted by the return of Dan McStay for the Hawks clash, following a successful knee reconstruction for the star.
De Goey bemoaned the injury situation at the Pies this season and said it was a massive reason for his side’s struggles. “We’ve had 36 guys out of our whole squad play for the team in the ones,” he said. “In terms of that, it’s hard to get continuity between players and also the game plan. Obviously we are having to change the structure depending on the forward line. We’ve had a few structural changes like that which are really being costly at this stage of the year but hopefully get a couple of troops back and that will push us forward.”
The midfield gun also touched on the criticism around Collingwood captain Moore, who’s been called out for his lack of positional awareness and decision-making on numerous times this season. Moore has frequently decided not to match up on the opposition side’s key forward even though he’s regarded as Collingwood’s best defender. He’s instead been used as an intercept marker but has struggled in the role.
De Goey admitted the loss of Moore’s defensive partner from last season, Nathan Murphy, has been a major factor behind his side’s defensive struggles in 2024. But the midfielder says the whole team needs to pick up its standards, not just Moore. “I think everyone is struggling, to be honest,” De Goey said.
“The way we are moving the footy and turning it over so easily, it makes it really easy for other teams to score. The way we are moving the ball and the way we are defending are obviously two different things but they’re interlinked and we’re not doing it good enough.”