Buckley hails fit Collingwood AFL list

Apr 11, 2017 - 3:49 AM Beset by injury woes for much of his tenure at Collingwood, Nathan Buckley says he's never had a fitter AFL list than he does right now.

The stars could be aligning for the Magpies coach, who could have his best 22 running out on the MCG next week for Anzac Day.

On Tuesday, the tally of fit Magpies reporting for duty stood at 43 of 45 listed players, a tally Buckley said was unprecedented in his six years as senior coach.

"Never. Nowhere near it," Buckley said.

"It's a tick for the conditioning staff and a quandary for the match committee."

The only two on the injury list are Tom Langdon (knee - three weeks) and Ben Sinclair (hamsting - 12 weeks).

Jordan De Goey won't play in the AFL for another three weeks for lying to the club about his hand injury, but has had medical clearance to play in the VFL this week.

After 18 months out, Jamie Elliott is two training sessions away from returning to senior football against St Kilda on Sunday after coming through a test in the reserves.

Daniel Wells will play in the VFL this week in a bid to prove himself ready for the biggest day on the regular season fixture list - against Essendon on April 25.

"He's been on a strong graduated program and his last couple of weeks have been a step up," Buckley said of his 32-year-old recruit.

"He'll play VFL this week with a view to getting him to full match fitness as soon as possible."

Could that be on Anzac Day?

"We're not looking any further than the Saints," Buckley deadpanned.

Collingwood's player availability has led to some senior players missing out and last week it was James Aish and Jarryd Blair.

Buckley hailed the "first class attitude" of the pair, who will contend strongly for the Saints match-up.

If there's one area of their game that Buckley would like to see improve off the back of his fit list, it's conversion.

"We're getting inside fifty 57 times on average (but) we're one of the bottom four scoring sides," he said.

"We've kicked 35 goals from 170-odd entries. We've worked on that over the past couple of weeks and want to see it improve."

Source: AAP