MOST football followers will recall Collingwood's ability to defy a lengthy injury list to make an unlikely run to last year's AFL Grand Final.

The setbacks kept coming, many of them of the soft-tissue variety – but were the Pies prepared for this development?

Leroy Lobo, who spent seven years in Greater Western Sydney's high performance and medical team, provides insight on this week's episode of Trends into how Collingwood overhauled its training program.

Lobo, the co-founder of the Fit for Footy app, explains how Magpies coach Nathan Buckley's decision to change parts of his team's gameplan meant the players had to learn to train differently.

The training guru also discusses former Giant-turned-Hawk Tom Scully's return from a serious ankle injury, and reveals the Telstra Tracker statistic fans need to become familiar with.

Trends is a podcast for the hardcore and average football fan who wants to learn more about what they're watching each weekend, plus what's going on behind the scenes.

Podcast summary

1:22 – An app that delivers everyone an elite training experience
2:40 – Nathan Buckley's decision to change Collingwood's game style
4:54 – How the Magpies overhauled their running program
6:15 – Why Collingwood suffered so many soft-tissue injuries in 2018
8:23 – Injury rate dipped as the players adapted to the program
9:23 – Recruiting footballers to fit the game style
10:56 – Tom Scully's remarkable work ethic and attention to detail
13:08 – The average time from returning to running post-injury to playing
15:00 – Scully's game-running numbers answer the doubters
16:23 – How can the Telstra Tracker transform the fan experience?
19:10 – The correlation between average speed in defence and success