Jordan De Goey celebrates a goal during Collingwood’s clash against Melbourne in round 24, 2025. Picture: AFL Photos

COLLINGWOOD coach Craig McRae says key midfielder Jordan De Goey is “a mile ahead” of where he thought he would be heading into finals.

The Magpie has only managed nine matches this season due to a lingering Achilles injury, but was one of Collingwood’s best in its six-point victory over Melbourne on Friday night.

MAGPIES v DEMONS Full match coverage and stats

“I think he’s a mile ahead of where I thought he would be at this time,” McRae said.

“I still thought he’d be playing sub or subbed out. I think he had eight score involvements. His clearance work is back to his beast mode … he’s an important player for us.”

De Goey finished the match with 26 disposals, six clearances and a goal to his name in a match that had huge ramifications over where the Magpies finish on the ladder.

After Gold Coast was upset by Port Adelaide, the Pies are all but assured of a top-four finish ahead of the finals, a stage on which De Goey has impressed before.

“Historically, finals have been his time to shine, so he’s probably one of the freshest players we have. Excited for what could be,” McRae said.

But it wasn’t all good news coming out of the Collingwood camp, with key defender Jeremy Howe subbed out of the game before half-time with a groin injury.

McRae said he’d spoken with the veteran post-match and wasn’t sure of the severity, but played down the possibility of his defender missing finals.

“I just had a brief chat to him (Howe),” McRae said.

“The adductor injury can be somewhat on the minor end at times. They tend to heal quickly, I think, but we won’t know until we get a scan.

“It may be a sneaky chance for the first final. I’m not sure. We’ll find out. If it’s a bit more than that, I don’t know.”

Other Magpies who looked to be wounded in Friday night’s game were spearhead forward Brody Mihocek and the speedy Beau McCreery, who hurt his foot.

“‘Checkers’ (Mihocek) has got a hand. Something with his hand, I’m not sure,” McRae said.

“Beau got stomped on his foot, so that was pretty sore for a while. Again, we won’t really know until maybe early next week or as early as the weekend, but I don’t think that’s of concern at the moment.”

The Pies now have a week off before they head into finals. For McRae, he’s keen to use the break as an opportunity to reset before September.

“We’ve had a big run of playing the top teams week after week, which, again, gives you feedback, and this has been a qualifying phase,” McRae said.

“We’ll reset ourselves. Wednesday, we’ll relaunch to a new season, because it is a new season. You have a whole of different outcomes at the end of it now.

“You lose, you’re out for some, and you win, if you finish top four, you win one, you’re in a prelim. You win two, you’re in a Grand Final. That’s how close we are right now.”

It’s the opposite for the Demons, whose season is now over. Melbourne missed out on finals for the second year in a row.

But interim coach Troy Chaplin said there were plenty of positives to take away from Friday’s game that will please their new coach next season.

“They are a proud group, and they’ve shown up … every day they’ve come in with real purpose. They challenged a team tonight who are a top-four team,” Chaplin said.

“What we have to probably get better as a group is winning these games. I think this year we’re 1-6 in games under 10 points, so we have to go away as a group and win, learn to win.

“But the performance of some of the guys tonight, you could reel them off. ‘Gawny’ (Max Gawn), again had a great battle. I thought ‘Trac’ (Christian Petracca) and ‘Clarry’ (Clayton Oliver) had fantastic games. Trent Rivers, he showed again he can play midfield.

“So we’ve got guys who are really, we’ve got great players. The new coach will find a way to inspire them and galvanise that group and take them forward.”