{"id":744065,"date":"2026-06-18T08:15:14","date_gmt":"2026-06-18T08:15:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/744065\/"},"modified":"2026-06-18T08:15:14","modified_gmt":"2026-06-18T08:15:14","slug":"magpies-admit-bobby-hill-will-not-make-afl-return-for-some-time","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/744065\/","title":{"rendered":"Magpies admit Bobby Hill will not make AFL return for some time"},"content":{"rendered":"

Collingwood coach Craig McRae says Bobby Hill is “a long way away” from returning to the AFL.<\/p>\n

The 2023 Norm Smith medallist was back at Collingwood training on Thursday morning after returning from a trip to Western Australia for personal reasons.<\/p>\n

The forward has played three VFL matches this year and his most recent AFL appearance was in round 22 last season.<\/p>\n

Asked how Hill was faring, McRae said: “Truthfully, battling.”<\/p>\n

“I had a really good chat with Bobby this morning and over the last period,” McRae added.<\/p>\n

“He has a bit going on, let’s be really clear. He has a lot going on.<\/p>\n

“He’s a work in progress, but it’s nice to have him in the building.<\/p>\n

“He’s a long way away from playing footy \u2026 but again, when he’s in our building, at least we get some opportunities to make him feel that he’s loved and appreciated.”<\/p>\n

\"Bobby<\/p>\n

Bobby Hill has not played an AFL match since last year. (Getty Images\/AFL Photos: Michael Willson)<\/p>\n

McRae said Hill would not play at any level this weekend.<\/p>\n

“There’s a lot of work to be done before he plays,” McRae said.<\/p>\n

Brayden Maynard will not return this Saturday against Port Adelaide, as he continues his recovery from a dislocated shoulder he suffered in the King’s Birthday loss to Melbourne.<\/p>\n

“Reality set in that he probably has a bit more work to do on that shoulder,” McRae said.<\/p>\n

“It’s still a little bit unstable.<\/p>\n

“He’s a warrior, he wants to play most weeks. He said, ‘Don’t count me out for next week’, but we’ll see how that goes.”<\/p>\n

Captain Darcy Moore also has returned from an overseas trip as he recovers from a hamstring injury.<\/p>\n

It remains unclear when he will play again.<\/p>\n

Pies keen on Neale<\/p>\n

The Magpies are poised to make a massive offer for Brisbane star Lachie Neale, who is a free agent at the end of the season.<\/p>\n

“I’ve said openly that we want to be in the market for free agents,” McRae said.<\/p>\n

“We’ll explore everyone who’s still available.<\/p>\n

“We have to be progressive in the way we think about the game. We’ve created a free agency for a reason. It’s like going fishing in a small pond.”<\/p>\n

\"Lachie<\/p>\n

Lachie Neale is expected to leave the Lions at the end of the season. (Getty Images\/AFL Photos: Robert Cianflone)<\/p>\n

McRae said recruiting a player such as Neale would immediately boost the Magpies.<\/p>\n

“There’s definitely an energy. When we bring Dan Houston and Harry Perryman in \u2026 the locker room gets excited,” he said.<\/p>\n

AAP<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Collingwood coach Craig McRae says Bobby Hill is “a long way away” from returning to the AFL. The…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":744066,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[560],"tags":[638,64,63,55,639,14349,10990,10143,25875,358295,85],"class_list":["post-744065","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-bobby-hill","tag-collingwood","tag-craig-mcrae","tag-lachie-neale","tag-mapgies","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/744065","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=744065"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/744065\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/744066"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=744065"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=744065"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=744065"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}