The injury news looks grim for Collingwood’s Levi Greenwood and Jordan De Goey after they were hurt in the AFL qualifying final win over Geelong.
The Magpies fear Greenwood has ruptured an anterior cruciate ligament, potentially sidelining him with a knee reconstruction until well into next season.
De Goey also was forced out of the game with hamstring tightness and the Magpies will sweat on his medical results.
Friday night was the forward’s first game back after more than a month out with a hamstring injury and this latest issue is understood to be in the same leg.
Coach Nathan Buckley said Greenwood’s knee injury was “terrible for him” and praised the defender for how he handled the situation.
“They’re both remarkably stoic characters and particularly Levi, with the circumstance that he’s in,” Buckley said.
“Levi’s right up there in regards to heart and soul.
“His teammates just love him, so we’re really flat for him.
“He was around his teammates on the bench, still really positive, engaging and contributing in any manner that he could.”
The good injury news for Collingwood is that key defender Darcy Moore played well after returning from a hamstring injury against Essendon in round 23 and also suffering hamstring tightness in that game.
That will give Collingwood some hope about De Goey, although they are yet to know the severity of his injury.
“We don’t know whether it was a grade or just tightness, but he couldn’t finish the game,” Buckley said.
The Magpies coach said being two down on the bench did not harm them too much, given Geelong also lost Mitch Duncan to a knee injury during the game.
“We were still able to do most things … that was probably marginal,” Buckley said.
“We were able to handle for the most part whatever they threw at us.”
The win gives Collingwood the week off and puts them into a preliminary final.
Buckley praised his team’s defensive grunt after they jumped to a 36-point lead in the second term and then held off a late challenge from Geelong.
“It’s a good result and hard-earned,” Buckley said.
“We set the game up the way we wanted to early and we were able to continue and maintain the rage through the whole four quarters.
“So it was fantastic defensive effort.”
Collingwood won the tackle count 95-74 in a game dominated by physical clashes and stoppages.