DAN McSTAY has had the season of a player determined to live out his own dream.

The highest-rated key forward in the competition across the last 18 weeks of the year, a six-game stretch late in the campaign where he was a top-10 player in the entire League, and a career-best 43 goals has reflected the growth and maturity of a footballer keenly aware of his importance to Collingwood's finals plans.

And of one desperate to write his own chapter within that next big Magpie moment.

In an alternate universe, McStay plays in Collingwood's 2023 premiership. A popular member of the side's forward line, the Pies spearhead ruptured his ACL in their preliminary final victory over Greater Western Sydney and agonisingly had to watch from the sidelines as his teammates hoisted the cup aloft the very next week.

A reality dawned on McStay the following season, as his gruelling recovery from that brutal knee injury coincided with Collingwood struggling to fill the void he'd left in attack and labouring to even make finals let alone contend. Maybe he'd missed his opportunity.

"It's funny," McStay told AFL.com.au from the club's headquarters this week. "When we won the flag and I didn't play, you just kind of expect the team to be able to almost repeat the year after and compete again.

"When I got back from my ACL and we were middle of the pack, maybe below that, we ended up missing finals and you start to realise … shit, they're hard to win.

"I'd played in a fair few finals series at Brisbane and we never got past Geelong, we'd almost always meet them in the prelim. I've been to a few prelims now and I know how hard they are to make, but to go that next step is even harder.

"It does hurt a little bit, not being able to play in that one in 2023. But I learnt a lot about myself and what it takes. It definitely does give you a fair bit of fire to want to get there one day."

In another alternate universe, McStay is a two-time premiership player with Brisbane.

Having played 161 games across nine years for the Lions, he had ridden the rollercoaster and been there for the journey as Chris Fagan's side went from zeroes to heroes and on the cusp of glory by the time his free agency call loomed towards the end of 2022.

He chose to take up Collingwood's five-year free agency offer and was on a collision course to then facing Brisbane in the very next Grand Final, before his cruel ACL setback the week prior put an end to those hopes. 

He's since watched as his former Lions teammates have become the envy of the competition.

Having played in four unsuccessful finals campaigns with Brisbane, including those preliminary final defeats to Geelong in 2020 and 2022, part of him still naturally wonders 'what if?' when it comes to the thought of had he stayed.

"A little bit, of course," McStay said.

"But I said to my partner Kellie at that time, whatever my decision is and whatever we decide to do, if we come back to Melbourne then we'll live and die by that decision. I didn't want to have ifs, buts, maybes. What if I did this, should have, could have, whatever. We made that decision together and we're living by that decision.

"We're happy with our decision. Kellie's got family down here, all my family is here, so I've loved my time at Collingwood. It's been amazing. The people, the culture, everything about this club is what I wanted and I love that.

"I loved my time at Brisbane and I knew they were going to be a strong team. I knew that if they held on to their players, which they obviously have, they'd be really strong. But I just felt like family and all of that, at that point of time in my life, it was more valuable to me.

"And, it turns out, I made the right decision. We made a Grand Final and we beat them. It was just one week too late for me."

McStay has found his value in Collingwood's system, particularly this season where he's deputised more alongside Darcy Cameron in the ruck – chopping out his experienced counterpart after Oscar Steene's season-ending ACL injury in May – and has found more of the footy as a result.

His 43 goals are a career high, but he's also ranked in the top five in the League for tackles inside-50 and top 10 for contested marks. For seven straight weeks late in the season, a period that coincided with him being in Champion Data's top-10 rated players in the competition, he also kicked multiple goals. Being that main man, a title promised to him by coach Craig McRae, has paid dividends.

"I just remember always being the third string at Brisbane," McStay said.

"I found it hard to play the way they wanted to play at times. So, when I had that chat with 'Fly', he said to me, 'You're our guy … we want you to be our main guy'. I just felt like he had a lot of belief in me. He had just seemed like a coach I really wanted to get coached by.

"I had a great relationship with 'Fages', but I just felt like there was something different that [McRae] really saw in me that I probably didn't see in myself. Sometimes you need someone to believe in you more than you do.

"It's been nice to repay that a little bit this year and play some footy that I knew I was capable of playing, but just my body has let me down. It's just been nice to repay that a little bit this year."

But as for what's really clicked for McStay this season, perhaps the answer lies in the removal of a title that many others would strive for. Last year, the veteran goalkicker was promoted into the club's leadership group. It was just reward for his speedy emergence as one of Collingwood's most respected players.

But he struggled with the responsibility and asked the Pies if he could step aside from holding any official leadership responsibilities ahead of the 2026 season, with his partner in the forward line Lachie Schultz heading into the group in his place.

It's enabled McStay the freedom to lead a young Magpies attack – featuring inexperienced options such as Steene, Charlie West, Will Hayes, Jack Buller and Mitch Podhajski – without the burden of doing so in a formal capacity.

"I was in the leadership group last year and I actually hated the title," McStay said.

"I don't like things being about me and I actually really struggled, especially because my footy wasn't really going the way I wanted it to. I had a few undisclosed injuries last season and I was struggling with form and I felt like I had to perform because I had the title. I had all of those things going on upstairs that you don't really see during the game.

"This year, I left the leadership group. 'Shooter' has come in and done a fantastic job, he's been amazing. He's been able to perform at a high level and still lead really well. I felt like that's freed me up as well.

"I've been in the leadership group and I know what that looks like, but now I can be a leader without the title and have a bit less stress and a little bit more freedom. I can continue to be myself and play footy and not get too caught up in having to be a certain person and a leader and lead in a certain way. I can just lead the way I want to now."

For a person that doesn't like the limelight, 2026 has been a weird one for McStay. Now recognised as one of the leading key forwards in the competition, and one of Collingwood's most important players heading into the finals, those headlines featuring his name have all been glowing ones.

"I try not to read too much of it," he laughed. "If anything, it's probably the year where I want to read that sort of stuff. But I feel like it's kept me level and pretty grounded.

"Anything Collingwood, it can be very sensationalised. Obviously, Collingwood sells papers and gets clicks better than any other team in Australia. It's probably something I've had to learn and adjust to, but it probably has been more positive this year than ever before."

But now, one last question remains for McStay. Will the hard work, the effort and the goals that have garnished his 2026 season result in that elusive premiership victory that has evaded him so far? Like many others at Collingwood, he's confident in the side's ability to achieve the unthinkable from a wildcard spot, starting on Friday night.

"Obviously, we're a pretty experienced group," McStay said.

"A lot of our guys have played a lot of finals footy and we feel like our game stacks up in finals footy. We play a high-pressure game, high contest, low possession. It's pretty much finals-like footy. I feel like we practice that for a lot of the year. Our best can stack up against any team in finals-like footy.

"Whether we can completely put that together for five weeks is going to be the big challenge. It's the newest thing, can you do it for five weeks in a row against the best teams? It's obviously exponentially harder this year than previous years. But I feel like our game will stack up really nicely."