“No Mihocek, no Collingwood”: Jenkins rules Pies out of flag race after latest injury blow

Josh Jenkins has ruled Collingwood out of the premiership race.

The reigning premiers slumped to their second-straight defeat on Friday night against Essendon but what hurts most was the season-ending injury suffered by Brody Mihocek.

With their full forward ruled out for the rest of the campaign with a ruptured pectoral tendon, the Pies are without more than a handful of best 23 players and Jenkins thinks that Mihocek’s absence is the one that will hurt them most.

Jenkins questioned if the eighth-placed Pies can even make the finals given their run home.

“No Brody Mihocek, no Collingwood. I don’t think they can be a factor (in the flag race),” Jenkins said on SEN Crunch Time.

“I feel comfortable to say this because I've been on the Collingwood bandwagon since almost the start.

“I'm no knocker of the pies, but I think his importance to their forward half of the ground (is too much). When you equally take Jamie Elliott away, who is their pseudo full forward… (they’re missing a lot).

“Without Mihocek, they can't win the premiership. Whether they can even make the eight comes into some question as well because of their run home. It's incredibly difficult the run-in to finals they’ve got.”

Looking at Collingwood’s draw, Jenkins can only see one game that appears a certain win as they push to claim at least four of their last seven games to have a hope of playing in September.

“Yes, a lot of the games are at the MCG, but Geelong next Friday night, they'll go in as underdogs there,” Jenkins said.

“You'd imagine Hawthorn is 50-50 at best. Richmond they would be expected to win.

“Then they've got Carlton, Sydney in Sydney - good luck trying to win that. Brisbane here and Melbourne here.

“That is an incredibly difficult run-in, and they're only 8-6-2. They’re only ahead of the ledger because of a couple of draws.

“I've been a massive fan of what they've done but they just don't have anyone to come in and replace him.”

While Dan McStay is nearing a return from an ACL injury and could theoretically replace Mihocek from a positional standpoint, he thinks it’ll be a tough task for him to make a big impact coming back from injury in a role that’s not exactly suited to his skill set.

“It's a tall task for him,” Jenkins said.

“His role anyway … he likes to really work hard up the ground and be the outlet type player.

“The reason I think Mihocek is so important to them is he is he's one that can create a spill in the forward 50 when he's not even really in the contest.

“He throws himself at the contest, which creates a lot for Bobby Hill and these guys at ground level.

“I just think he's such an important structural piece in the front third of the ground.

“McStay might come in and be able to pick up where he left off and be that guy that hits the logos and works really hard.

“But it's a tall task for him, and you're probably going to be asking him to play a role that's not as suited to his skill set.”

McStay could play for the Pies in the VFL next week as he pushes to return to the AFL side in the coming weeks.