TRAV’S TRIBUTE
TRAVIS Varcoe will pay an emotional tribute to his late sister in Saturday’s qualifying final as Adam Treloar pushes hard to play after sparkling training-track form.
Collingwood will march west to take on West Coast, with captain Scott Pendlebury admitting a week-long virus would have sidelined him if not for the post-Round 23 bye.
Pendlebury caught the virus from son Jax before the final home-andaway clash against Fremantle and was admitted to hospital last Tuesday for an illness that wife Alex believed was viral meningitis. He only returned to the club yesterday.
While he conceded he wasn’t back to full fitness, he expects to be recovered by Saturday night.
Varcoe’s sister Maggie died last week after suffering a head injury while playing in an Adelaide Footy League grand final the previous Sunday.
The funeral is expected to be held this week but the dual- premiership Cat has told the Collingwood hierarchy he will play his first final for the Pies.
The team will fly to Perth in separate groups on Thursday and Friday in time for a Friday-night training session at Perth Stadium. Varcoe flew into Melbourne last week for a mid-week training session before heading back to Adelaide, and was at the Holden Centre yesterday.
Pendlebury said, while he still wasn’t sure what Varcoe would do, he would support him in any way he needed.
“I spoke to a couple of players,” he said. “Everyone is asking the same question.
“Trav has been around long enough now that if he wants to play, no doubt he will, and if he thinks he needs some time then we fully understand that.
“We are just letting him know we are here for him. We all wrap our arms around him; we love the bloke. We spoke about it as a group – just rallying around Trav.
“If he plays this weekend, that’s fantastic. If he doesn’t, we understand why. As a playing group, we are tight and understand what he is going through and we are all here for Trav and his family.”
Jeremy Howe is ready to return from a corked leg, while Tyson Goldsack would seem unlikely to play after two possessions in the VFL.
Treloar didn’t play in last Sunday’s VFL clash as he recov- ers from a hamstring tendon injury, instead shining in a match simulation session on Friday at the Holden Centre.
The Pies will weigh up the risks of losing a player early in a huge final with the reality Treloar has done everything asked of him in the past fortnight of training.
The club’s medical staff will decide if he is fit to play but it seems a real prospect. “If he’s back, he’s a huge boost for us, so my personal preference would be he plays but that is just me,” Pendlebury said. The skipper admits he is now a huge supporter of the post-Round 23 bye after his condition worsened after flying back from the Fremantle clash. “Yeah, I don’t think I would have played on the weekend so I am a big fan of the week off,” Pendlebury said. “I am getting back to 100 per cent. I wouldn’t say I am 100 per cent yet. I was in hospital Tuesday last week, I suppose more to make sure everything was good and it wasn’t anything too sinister.”