Pies hope time and tide will heal all wounds - The Age

[Dale61]

By Emma Quayle
June 5 2002

Collingwood is hopeful that an extra-long week on the training track will allow Tarkyn Lockyer to play against Melbourne on Monday, after he hurt his ankle in a training mishap this week.

Lockyer twisted his ankle after stumbling on an in-ground sprinkler while jogging back to the change rooms at a light recovery session at Yarra Bend on Monday, and was in enough pain to have to be carried from the ground.



But after the team completed its weekly wade in the waters near the Kerford Road pier yesterday, defender James Clement said the fact the Pies would not play until Monday gave Lockyer plenty of time to come good.

"There's no worries at all. He's rolled his ankle previously this season and it's just flared up, but with the amount of time we've got until the next game, he'll be fine," Clement said. "We were just going for a jog in a park, and I think he tripped up on a sprinkler head sticking up.

"It was just like a little pothole thing, so he's just given it a little bit of a tweak. The ankle's been strapped, so he will be fine."

The Magpies have endured a potentially difficult past five weeks, scoring grinding wins over Essendon and Brisbane, thrashing St Kilda and almost surprising Port Adelaide, before last weekend's last-quarter explosion against a desperate Sydney side.

Coach Mick Malthouse suggested after Saturday night's 11-point victory that Collingwood had played far from its best football, and escaped. Clement agreed, but said it was an encouraging sign that the Pies didn't fall apart any more when they had a bad patch.

"We showed in the first and last quarters what we can do, and the second and third quarter fade-outs were a bit worrying really. We were just lucky we got away with it - if we were against a top-four side, they would have really punished us," he said.

Collingwood's only other injury concerns this week are full-forward Scott Cummings and Chad Rintoul. Cummings appears to have overcome his latest hamstring problem, but a solution for Rintoul's migraines is evading the club's doctors.

Collingwood midfielder Mark McGough is the round-10 AFL Rising Star nominee.

The 17-year-old was rewarded for his effort in the Magpies' 11-point win over Sydney at Colonial Stadium in which he gathered 16 possessions in defence and through the midfield.

McGough has already forged an impressive start to his career in just seven games.

He was awarded the Anzac Medal for his best-afield display in the Magpies' win over Essendon on Anzac Day in what was his second game.

McGough is the second Magpie to be nominated for the AFL Rising Star award this season, after Jason Cloke was nominated following the round-six match against St Kilda.

- with AAP


"Racetracks are for racing, roads are for getting there."