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Collingwood captain Nick Maxwell arrived in Perth fit and raring to go for Saturday night’s AFL clash with Fremantle at Patersons Stadium after his quicker-than-expected recovery from wrist surgery.
The 2010 premiership captain was originally expected to miss up to two months with the wrist fracture he suffered in the Magpies’ win over Carlton five weeks ago.
But after getting the all-clear to resume full training this week, the 29-year-old got through unscathed and can’t wait to lead his team out against the Dockers.
“When you say eight weeks or six weeks or 12 weeks with an injury, you have to look at different scenarios for every individual,” said Maxwell.
“It’s just different for everyone and I was fortunate that mine healed pretty quick.
“It’s not a risk at all. We wouldn’t take the risk after missing four weeks.”
“Early on in the week, we had the scans and everything was healed without any damage there.”
Collingwood and Fremantle enter the clash boasting 4-2 records with each having lost to Essendon and Hawthorn along the way.
Maxwell knows as well as anyone how tough Ross Lyon-led teams are to overcome after Collingwood’s battles with St Kilda when he was coaching the Saints.
Most of Collingwood’s players flew into Perth on Friday afternoon ahead of a training run on Subiaco and then flying back to Melbourne after the match on Saturday night.
That is the routine that Collingwood have used to win the majority of their games outside Melbourne since 2009 and Maxwell is backing the strategy again.
“It’s going to be a tough game. All Ross Lyon-coached teams are. They are very defensive and then they have that flash of brilliance with guys like (Michael) Walters and (Hayden) Ballantyne up forward,” Maxwell said.
“It’s going to be a big challenge for us but we love travelling and getting away as a team, and we have a good record interstate.”
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