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Collingwood forward Dan McStay has been ruled out until after the bye with his knee injury, leaving the door open for cult hero Mason Cox to stake his claim in the Magpies’ premiership tilt.

The ladder leaders on Saturday confirmed the unlucky McStay would miss six to eight weeks after sustaining a moderate grade injury to the medial collateral ligament in his left knee.

If the timeline holds, McStay will not be available until the Magpies’ clash with St Kilda in round 15.
Premiership player Cox, who missed the start of the season with a hand injury, stands to be the beneficiary of McStay’s misfortune.

The American fan favourite of the Magpie army is the obvious like-for-like replacement, given his ability to both play forward and relieve Darcy Cameron in the ruck.

The Pies are top of the ladder and the flag favourites after responding to a heavy loss to Greater Western Sydney in opening round by winning their past six games in a row.

McStay has played just 26 of a possible 56 games for the Pies since leaving Brisbane at the end of the 2022 season. He missed Collingwood’s grand final victory in 2023 after injuring the MCL in his right knee in the preliminary final, then ruptured his ACL in December that year.

“Unfortunately, scans confirmed this morning that Dan has sustained a moderate grade MCL injury during yesterday’s Anzac Day match against Essendon. The injury is expected to see him out of the game for the next six to eight weeks,” Magpies football boss Charlie Gardiner said.

“This is obviously a disappointing setback for Dan, who has been in good form and has played a really important role for the team so far this season.

“Dan is an absolute professional and has shown a remarkable ability to bounce back from injury and setbacks across his career so we are confident he’ll play an important role for us in the second half of the season.”