Pendlebury boost for Pies

COLLINGWOOD skipper Scott Pendlebury will lead a boosted Magpies outfit against Melbourne on Saturday.

Coach Nathan Buckley has declared the Magpies are ready to tackle the second “footy frenzy” of the season, despite significant injuries to midfielders Brayden Sier and Adam Treloar.

Pendlebury has missed four games since injuring his quad in the warm-up to the Round 8 clash with West Coast.

“He’s done everything in his power and he’s up and ready to go,” Buckley said.

Star defender Darcy Moore, Ben Reid and forwards Will Hoskin-Elliott and Jamie Elliott will also return after missing the win over Adelaide. Jaidyn Stephenson, Chris Mayne and Tim Broomhead were omitted.

Collingwood will embark on the league’s second compressed period of games without Sier and Treloar, who have quad and hamstring injuries.

Sier “felt something down just above his knee” against Adelaide, Buckley said, and scans revealed “quite a significant injury” that will sideline him for at least the rest of the home-andaway season.

“But he was able to push through that and contribute to a win at that moment,” Buckley said. “The muscle itself has come away from the tendon a little bit in the lower part of the quadriceps, and I think that’s going to take a little bit of time to heal.”

Buckley said the Pies had learnt to brace “for whatever comes”.

“(It’s a mindset of), ‘OK, you just let us know what we need to do and we’ll get it done’,” he said. “We’ve got a really deep squad, and we’ve shown that over the last two or three weeks, to be honest. I think only the Swans have played more players than we have, and we’ve still got some boys there.”

Tom Langdon and Levi Greenwood were pressing for opportunities, he said.

“Compressed fixture or not, we’re ready for whatever comes our way and believe we’re in really good shape,” he said.