Collingwood coach Nathan Buckley has conceded that sending star forward Jordan De Goey to Germany is a “Hail Mary” attempt to fast-track his recovery from a hamstring injury.
De Goey will see Bayern Munich's world-renowned hamstring specialist Hans-Wilhelm Muller-Wohlfahrt, who he hopes can fix his troubled hamstring to assist with Collingwood’s quest to win the premiership.
Buckley confirmed that De Goey injured his hamstring in the opening minutes of Collingwood’s 10-point Qualifying Final win over Geelong.
After previously having issues with his hamstring during the season, the Pies knew they had to pull out all stocks to get him ready for their premiership tilt.
“To be honest, it’s a Hail Mary and we’ll see how that goes,” Buckley told SEN’s Whateley.
“But we’re not prepared to give anything away.
“Jordy injured the hamstring in the first two or three minutes in a chase-down tackle on the wing.
“(He) thought it was tight and played the next 45 to 50 minutes of footy with a torn hamstring, which has caused a fair bit of bleeding.
“The challenge now is to see whether we can get rid of that bleeding and send it to a guy who is one of probably thousands of blokes that reckon they can fix it.
“That’s the industry we’re in. There’s probably some blokes in country Victoria saying why are you sending the bloke to Germany, I can fix him.
“But you definitely plan without him. I don’t think any sane person would be expecting that Jordy would come. As I said, it’s a Hail Mary but we’ll have a crack.”
Collingwood will face the winner of the clash between Brisbane and GWS next Friday night at the MCG for a spot in the Grand Final.
Listen to Nathan Buckley on Whateley in the player below.