The decision to leave out Dan McStay from Collingwood’s important game against Adelaide on Thursday has led many fans to show their support for the unlucky forward.
As 7NEWS Melbourne’s Xander McGuire predicted on Tuesday, Collingwood coach Craig McRae decided to replace McStay with Mason Cox the next day. Cox hasn’t played since Round 19.
WATCH THE VIDEO ABOVE: Collingwood brings back Mason Cox as Dan McStay is left out.
Cox, who helped Collingwood win a big game against Richmond in a preliminary final in 2018, hasn’t been favored much by McRae this season, appearing in just eight matches.
“Mason Cox looks ready for a great comeback in the finals — he’s likely stepping in for an injured Dan McStay,” McGuire mentioned before the final choice was announced.
“McStay practiced, but it’s thought he’s dealing with some shoulder pain. The match committee today will make the final decision. ”
This is a tough moment for McStay, who has faced many challenges over the last four years.
In his last year with Brisbane in 2022, he was part of the Lions’ heavy loss in the preliminary final to the eventual champions, Geelong.
The next year, he hurt his knee in Collingwood’s nail-biting one-point win in the preliminary final against GWS, missing out on playing in the grand final against his former team, which the Magpies won.
Months later, he tore his ACL during his first training session of the 2024 preseason and only managed to play five games for that year.
In 2025, McStay has played 18 games and has mostly stayed healthy.
However, with his sore shoulder and recent poor performances, the Magpies have turned to Cox for this important final, even though McStay had played in the last 11 games straight.
“I feel bad for McStay. He had a good start to the year, but he’s not been playing well for the last couple of months. But it would be awful for him to miss out on another chance for a title; it stinks that he didn’t get one in ‘23,” one Collingwood fan said.
“Dan McStay being left out of the team is unbelievable. Not enough people are talking about this,” another fan added.
It seems McStay has recently chosen to delete his Instagram account, which fans of the Magpies quickly noticed.
It is reported that McStay made this choice long before he was not selected for the first round of the finals.
“Every team has some toxic fans, but Collingwood seems to have a lot,” one supporter stated.
“Dan McStay had to go off social media because of the harsh comments he received. From our own fans. If you’ve said mean things to him personally, you’re a disgrace to this club. ”
Another fan commented: “Dan McStay’s journey is heartbreaking → Lost the 2022 prelim final with Brisbane → Moves to Collingwood and injures his MCL in the 2023 prelim, missing the grand final win. → Tore his ACL in his first practice session of 2024. → Left out for the first final in 2025 . . . . . We care about you so much, Dan.”
McStay was left out, which was one of two changes made by McRae. He also brought back Wil Parker to replace the injured veteran Jeremy Howe.
At the same time, Adelaide’s coach Matthew Nicks has brought back Max Michalanney and Luke Pedlar for the game, while young players Sid Draper and Billy Dowling have been dropped.
Michalanney has missed four games and Pedlar has not played for the last two because of hamstring problems.
Michalanney is known for being Adelaide’s top defender, but he has been practicing with the forwards before the game at Adelaide Oval.
“We might have done that on purpose to keep you guys guessing; you’ll learn more tomorrow night,” Nicks told reporters on Wednesday.
But we know Max is good at playing in different positions.
“It’s something we’ve focused on this year, aiming to be a more adaptable team, with players becoming more flexible so they can take on different roles when needed.
“So if he needs to play forward at any time, we believe he can do a great job there.
“And we recognize his experience playing in defense for a long time. “
Nicks’s Crows finished at the top of the standings, securing their first finals spot since losing the championship game in 2017.
Only seven players on the Crows have played in finals before, getting ready to face a Collingwood team that is experienced in finals and won the championship two years ago.
Nicks admitted that it’s uncertain how his players will handle the pressure.
“We know emotions run high and the pressure increases in finals; that’s what we need to be ready for,” he said.
“We have been preparing for that all year.
“We’ve played many big games throughout the year. . . our stadium is usually full, so it won’t be completely new for us, even though there will be more Collingwood fans than there were in the last game.
“That’s the tough part: we don’t know how we’ll handle it since we don’t have the same level of experience in finals as our opponents.
“But this is why we prepared ourselves for this moment. “
Adelaide narrowly beat Collingwood by three points on August 16, ending an 11-game winless streak against them that dated back to 2016.
That game had some negative consequences, as star Crows forward Izak Rankine was suspended for four games for making a homophobic comment towards a Collingwood player.
Rankine returned to Australia on Tuesday night and spoke to his teammates before Wednesday’s practice.
“We have been focused on football as a team for the last week and a half,” Nicks said.
“We’re in a special situation, just like our opponent, since we played each other recently.
“There’s a lot of respect for how that last game turned out.”
In that recent match, the Crows won even though they were outnumbered in inside-50s, losing 37-71.
“They really took control. . . If you check the numbers, we’re likely going to lose nine out of ten times,” Nicks mentioned.
“But luckily, the results aren’t only based on those numbers; it’s really about scoring goals and earning points.
“The truth is, we need to improve from how we played before.
“The number of times we got the ball into the 50 last time, we understand that won’t be enough. “
