COLLINGWOOD coach Nathan Buckley expects to see Andrew Krakouer at the Magpies' recovery session on Tuesday, and says the small forward could return against the Western Bulldogs in Sunday's twilight match at Etihad Stadium.
Krakouer withdrew from selection this round to deal with personal issues, sparking speculation that he had walked out on the club. The rumour was quickly quashed by the Magpies.
Buckley, who declared he would not "discuss publicly blow-by-blow" Krakouer's situation, also dismissed reports that the 30-year-old had returned to his native Western Australia.
He said a firing Krakouer made the Pies a better team.
"We try and give as much information about where we're at (and) where our players are at … but we have the interests of every one of the individuals in our football club at heart," Buckley said after his side belted Melbourne by 83 points in the Queen's Birthday match at the MCG on Monday.
"Andrew missed some sessions early in the week due to personal issues. We didn’t feel the need to advertise that, and we'll manage 'Krak' and give him every opportunity to come back in and prove his availability for selection next week.
"Our next main session is tomorrow (Tuesday) … so we expect that he'll be there."
The Pies coach said he has been impressed with Krakouer's attitude and form.
"Andrew's been fantastic over the last couple of months. He's training consistently, he's been playing consistently," he said.
"Like every individual who plays for us, guys have got challenges outside of the game. And if family issues crop up, that becomes important to them at the time. We'll manage that as best we can.
"Clearly we're about playing the best football that we can on the field (and) we're about supporting everyone that we've got on the list."
Even if he trains the house down this week, Krakouer will be under pressure to regain his place in a team that appears to have an abundance of talented small forwards, with veteran Alan Didak finding touch and youngsters Kyle Martin and Ben Kennedy staking claims.
"Every player's under pressure to perform," Buckley said.
"But let's boil it down: we support Andrew, we want to give him every chance of playing AFL football … because we believe that when he's at his best, it makes us better."
Ben Collins is a reporter for AFL Media. Follow him on Twitter: @AFL_BenCollins
