COLLINGWOOD returned to the winners list on Sunday and moved a game clear on top of the ladder again, following a calculated heavy training block across 'Big Boy' month. 

The Magpies host Brisbane at the MCG next Saturday night off six days, before facing Hawthorn at the MCG five days later ahead of the final fortnight of the home and away season.

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With a spot in September all but mathematically confirmed by the end of June, Collingwood coach Craig McRae revealed the club used recent weeks to top-up its conditioning with the belief it will help them in finals.

"It didn't contribute (to those losses against Gold Coast and Fremantle). I will never make excuses as a coach; that's just part of what we have to do to be the team we want to be. Hopefully that serves us later on. Time will tell," McRae said on Sunday night after the 36-point win over Richmond.

"Because we've got a six-day break into a five-day break, [high performance manager] Jarrod Wade, who I rate as the best I've ever worked with, we won't train much in that six days and five days, so the last two or three weeks we've been training hard, doing stuff that we think will stack up later. It is what it is."

McRae marvelled at the performance of Nick Daicos after the Brownlow Medal contender amassed 42 disposals, 14 score involvements, eight inside 50s, three goals, a whopping 910 metres gained and a staggering 37.2 Champion Data AFL Player Ratings points.

"Did I hear right that it was the highest rated game of any player this year? That's what I heard. 

"Considering Jezza [Jeremy Cameron] kicked a bucket full last night that's pretty high praise. Metres gained, scoreboard impact, to be the most of any player in the competition this year says a lot.

"Two weeks in a row he has been able to create off half-back in moments and still not lose that dynamic stuff around the ball and then even deep forward. That is a year form of planning."

Veteran Scott Pendlebury was a late out on Sunday after copping a corked quad at training late in the week and failing to prove his fitness in time, with Oleg Markov coming into the 23. 

Lachie Sullivan was substituted out of the game with a posterior cruciate ligament injury, with the club fearing the 27-year-old’s season is in doubt. 

"It's a PCL. Scans will determine how long, we’ll wait and see. (Season over) could be the reality but we won’t know until we get the scan. There is a big range of what that will look like."

Important premiership pair Jordan De Goey and Bobby Hill both made successful returns in the VFL against Frankston at Kinetic Stadium on Sunday night. 

De Goey hadn’t played since round eight due to Achilles inflammation – plus a concussion at training – while Hill had missed five weeks due to personal reasons. 

McRae was thrilled the pair ticked off what they needed but didn't rule out another week for De Goey at VFL level. 

"It's about continuous training now with Jordy. I'm not sure (if he needs another game at VFL level), but he is a handy player to get back at this time of year," McRae said.

"Really pleased that both of them got through 70 per cent of the game. That was the target over four quarters. There were just moments of Bobby doing his thing and the same with Jordy. It was pleasing. Jordy missed 15 weeks and Bobby four or five. 

"It was important to get out there and get the cobwebs out; the game time was the big one. We'll wait and see how they pull up."

Richmond star Tim Taranto was a last-minute withdrawal after failing a fitness test during the warm-up. 

The 2023 Jack Dyer Medal winner didn’t train on Thursday at Punt Road due to calf soreness, but completed the captain’s run before a decision was made 30 minutes ahead of the first bounce on Sunday. 

Tigers coach Adem Yze was positive with the performance in his post-match press conference, especially after losing the club’s best player in 2025 so close to the game.

"He got through yesterday, so he got through the captain's run, but there was obviously still a risk of getting through the warm-up and really testing it. Our fitness staff really wanted him to hit high speed today and he just felt a bit of awareness today," Yze explained.

"To his credit, he wanted to play, but we've still got a month of footy and he is too important to us to send him out there and make the injury worse. 

"Hopefully by doing what we did today, he shouldn't miss anything other than what he did today. 

"Obviously a tough one, we find out 'Pendles is out' – one of their most important players – but then ten minutes later we find out our best player and a guy that's in career best form is a late out as well. 

"I was rapt with the way the boys responded and didn’t let it affect our first quarter."