Luke Darcy Says Collingwood Ruckman Darren Jolly Is Still A Long Way Off Grand Final Selection Against Geelong Post by: Ronny Lerner 29 September, 2011 - 8:41 AM

(The Slattery Media Group)

Former Western Bulldogs ruckman Luke Darcy has told Triple M’s Hot Breakfast that Darren Jolly is not out of the woods just yet as he aims to be selected in the Magpies’ grand final team.

Jolly trained strongly at Gosch’s Paddock on Wednesday after appearing to seriously injure his groin in Collingwood’s epic preliminary final win over Hawthorn five days earlier.

But while the signs were promising, Darcy said Jolly still had a long way to go before declaring himself a certain starter for Saturday’s premiership decider against Geelong.

Hear Luke and Eddie chat about Collingwood and Geelong’s injuries (2m 45s):

“It’s one thing to run around and bump into a (tackling) bag (but) when you’ve got suddenly an opponent who’s 110 kilos, trying to throw you down to the ground, that’s a very different situation,” Darcy told Triple M’s Hot Breakfast.

“So he’ll know within his own mind on Friday at some point he has got to be tested like that and he’s got to be confident."

"If he puts his hand up and at the five-minute mark of the first quarter he rips his groin, he’s doing a massive disservice to himself and to the club and that will be the wrestle within his own mind.”

Darcy explained that painkillers would hardly help Jolly on Saturday if he were to play.

“The issue with that part of the body – the upper groin and the hamstring – is that there aren’t painkilling things that you can do ... It’s either right or it’s not,” Darcy said.

Meanwhile, Darcy said that Geelong would also be taking a risk by playing Steve Johnson who hurt his knee against West Coast in the other preliminary final last weekend.

“You can deaden the knee, so you can take all the pain out of the knee, it’s a different situation to the groin but you don’t want to do it too often,” Darcy told Triple M’s Hot Breakfast.

“So if you do it on the Friday to train and he goes through (and thinks) ‘that was great’, (there’s a chance he) wakes up grand final morning and feels worse.”

The main concern for Johnson is his ability to move laterally now, according to Darcy.

“Structurally it (the knee) is okay (but) is he confident that he can move side to side under the pressure of a grand final and do the right thing by his side?,” Darcy posed.

“If he limps around on one leg, you can’t play, you’ve got to make sure that you’re able to go full speed.”

Should Jolly and Johnson play if they're not 100 percent fit?

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