Magpies duo closing in on full fitness
February 08, 2012 17:00:36 UK
Collingwood's football and coaching strategist Rodney Eade has revealed that their defenders Ben Reid and Nathan Brown are closing in on full fitness and should feature in their upcoming NAB Cup matches.
Reid would have been a part of the entire Magpies pre-season campaign, had he not injured his shoulder in a freak accident while on holidays in Asia. Like Reid, Brown had also injured himself in a non-footballing incident, which had required surgery and forced him on the sidelines since last June.
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Both the players have now started their field training and are likely to appear in Collingwood's pre-season NAB Cup matches.
"They're both tracking really well. We had match simulation today and both those players got involved so we're pretty confident Ben will probably play Round 2 of the NAB Cup. Browny's just got a bit more work to do on his knee but we're reasonably confident he might be able to get the last trial or two in," Eade said.
He then revealed that Reid is recovering from his injury ahead of schedule.
"He's progressed really well, he's probably a week or two ahead of schedule where we thought he might be. But he's done competitive work now so he just needs a little bit more finetuning, he won't play NAB (Cup Round) 1, then we have that break and we play NAB (Cup Round) 2 so there's a reasonable chance he might get a half or so in NAB (Cup Round) 2," Eade added.
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