INTERIM Collingwood coach Robert Harvey insists he's not using the next nine weeks as a pitch for the top job as he prepares to take the reins for the first time on Saturday.
The St Kilda champion will coach against Fremantle at an open-roof Marvel Stadium with the Pies expected to welcome back Brodie Grundy and Taylor Adams from injury after both trained strongly on Thursday.
Harvey said he had put little thought into putting his hand up for the permanent position to replace Nathan Buckley for 2022 but stopped short of ruling himself out.
"I just see it as a great opportunity for me and I see my role as trying to get the best out of, and trying to get some momentum, for these players," Harvey said on Thursday.
"I haven't thought too much about it (the permanent job). I see it as a nine-week block to do my best to hopefully get some good footy played by our boys, that they enjoy it, our fans like what they see.
"The rest, in time, looks after itself."
Harvey has previously fallen short for a number of senior positions across the competition, including most recently at North Melbourne for the post won by David Noble.
He said he wouldn't seek out clarity from head of football Graham Wright on whether he was a contender to follow the path of recent caretakers to the top chair such as David Teague at Carlton and Rhyce Shaw at North Melbourne.
"I don't think I need that. Wrighty's been so upfront with me to make my role really clear, I'm grateful for that so I don't think I need that," Harvey said.
"As it goes on anything I need to know, I'm sure he'll tell me and that's his MO. I respect him for that, at the moment my role's really clear, I know what I need to do, and I've just got to try and execute it as best I can."
The Pies are likely to finalise their coaching sub-committee early next week that will appoint Buckley's successor over coming months.
Harvey said he would bring a subtle change in language to Buckley, that he aimed to "bleed" in various new ideas and that he continued to stay in touch with the man he worked alongside from 2012.
"I spoke to him (Buckley) the day after (Queen's Birthday) and we've exchanged a few messages since," Harvey said.
"Obviously (I) have great respect for the man, worked with him for a long time and that won't change for me, he's been a great mentor for a long time. We'll stay in touch and I still lean on him when I can to get advice, we've touched base a couple of times."
Harvey added that he had "tweaked" a few things offensively to "get a bit of bang for buck" for the Pies who currently rank 16th for scoring.
Grundy (neck) and Adams (knee) both impressed during 18-versus-18 match simulation, which included Nathan Murphy as a defender after suffering a corked quad in the win against the Demons before the bye.
Jack Madgen, Trent Bianco, Caleb Poulter and Josh Thomas all lined up in the 'A' side that started with Grundy, Adams, Scott Pendlebury and Jack Crisp at the first centre bounce.
Of the B team – that will include at least four players at AFL level against the Dockers – Callum Brown started at the centre bounce alongside Max Lynch, Josh Daicos and the suspended Jordan De Goey.
Finlay Macrae and Will Hoskin-Elliott featured on the wings for the 'B' side opposed to Poulter and Steele Sidebottom, while Chris Mayne, Jay Rantall, Mark Keane, Mason Cox, Trey Ruscoe (back), Ollie Henry and Reef McInnes were also in the secondary team.
Will Kelly played as a forward in the 'B' line-up with Harvey confirming the father-son prospect would settle in attack for the remainder of the season after being thrown around across 2021.
The Pies will be forced into at least two changes against the Dockers with De Goey and Darcy Moore (knee) to fall out, with Keane also a consideration for a spot in defence.
