{"id":512804,"date":"2026-03-02T00:08:10","date_gmt":"2026-03-02T00:08:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/512804\/"},"modified":"2026-03-02T00:08:10","modified_gmt":"2026-03-02T00:08:10","slug":"the-untried-pie-poised-for-opening-round-debut-afl-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/512804\/","title":{"rendered":"The untried Pie poised for Opening Round debut – AFL News"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Collingwood will consider handing ruckman Oscar Steene<\/a> an AFL<\/a> debut when it takes on St Kilda in Opening Round on Sunday.<\/p>\n

The introduction of the new ruck rules and extended five-player bench has clubs contemplating how they use their tall stocks.<\/p>\n

Rivals would’ve been frightened with Geelong’s Shannon Neale came from the ground last week after contesting a centre-ball up<\/a>. His knee collided with Carlton’s Marc Pittonet<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The Pies farewelled Mason Cox<\/a> and have relied heavily on Darcy Cameron<\/a> to shoulder the load, but coach Craig McRae<\/a> could utilise Steene to combat the competition’s newest duo in Tom De Koning<\/a> and Rowan Marshall<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Against North Melbourne, the 22-year-old worked in tandem with Cameron to tackle Tristan Xerri<\/a> and Callum Coleman-Jones<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Steene played 48 per cent game time, recording seven disposals, eight hit-outs, two marks and a goal. Cameron played 73 per cent.<\/p>\n

The week prior, the untried ruck went head-to-head with GWS duo Kieren Briggs<\/a> and Nick Madden<\/a>, and more than held his own as the main man. Steene had nine touches and 19 hit-outs.<\/p>\n

“He’s had a great pre-season,” Cameron said of Steene.<\/p>\n

“It’s really exciting for him to have this opportunity over the past two weeks and go out and perform the way he has.<\/p>\n

“He’s got a lot of promise throughout (Sunday’s) game and last week’s game.<\/p>\n

“Jumping up really hard at centre bounce, his follow up efforts have been really good. I’ve been pleased what Steene has been doing.”<\/p>\n

McRae will be reluctant to use Dan McStay as the back-up ruck given his injury history while recruit Jack Buller<\/a> may be a consideration, although is required inside 50.<\/p>\n

Collingwood’s forward mix will rely heavily on Buller following Brody Mihocek’s departure, as the development of Charlie West<\/a> could also push the club’s fortunes towards another finals series.<\/p>\n

McStay, Buller and West combined for seven goals against the Kangaroos in the absence of Tim Membrey<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Heading into Sunday’s season opener, a watch will be on how they set up defensively, with premiership duo Darcy Moore<\/a> and Jeremy Howe<\/a> unlikely to take on the Saints.<\/p>\n

Joel Cochran<\/a> could slot straight into the Howe role, earning himself a debut after spending his maiden season in the VFL.<\/p>\n

Reef McInnes<\/a> is working his way back from an ACL injury 12 months ago, and isn’t expected to be available this week.<\/p>\n

Collingwood will welcome back a host of their stars that sat out the final practice match of the pre-season.<\/p>\n

Scott Pendlebury<\/a>, Steele Sidebottom<\/a>, Jack Crisp<\/a> and Jamie Elliott<\/a> were all emergencies, while Nick Daicos <\/a>and Jordan De Goey <\/a>weren’t named.<\/p>\n

Get set for the footy with the FREE Zero Hanger 2026 AFL Season Guide!<\/a> Packed with 150+ pages of player profiles, team previews, insights and analysis, the 2026 AFL Season Guide<\/a> is built for fans who want the full picture. Download your free Season Guide HERE.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Collingwood will consider handing ruckman Oscar Steene an AFL debut when it takes on St Kilda in Opening…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":512805,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[560],"tags":[638,64,63,55,639,85],"class_list":["post-512804","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-afl","tag-afl","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-australian-football-league","tag-australianfootballleague","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/512804","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=512804"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/512804\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/512805"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=512804"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=512804"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=512804"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}