It comes as two of Victoria's biggest clubs, Melbourne and Collingwood, who play each other in a scratch match next week, experience vastly different pre-seasons in regards to injuries. The Magpies' quest to go one step further than last year’s Grand Final has been buoyed by one of their shortest pre-season injury lists in recent memory. With Nathan Buckley’s tenure as coach constantly riddled with fightful runs of injuries to key players, the Magpies will go into Friday week's practice match against the Demons with all but five players to pick from. Melbourne, meantime, have had 12 of their best 22 had injury interrupted pre-seasons. Clayton Oliver (both shoulders), Jack Viney (ankle), James Harmes (shoulder), Oscar McDonald (hip), Jake Melksham (ankle and hamstring), Aaron Vandenberg (shoulder), Christian Petracca (knee), Neville Jetta (shoulder), Mitch Hannan (knee), Steven May (hamsting), Nathan Jones (hamstring) and Tom McDonald (elbow) have all had injury interrupted pre-seasons.

Loading That's not to say that some if not all of those players won't be available early in the season, but clubs will always talk about the importance of numbers on the track doing the majority of the pre-season. Greater Western Sydney struggled last year after they had more than 10 missing for huge chunks of the 2018 pre-season. Collingwood, in stark contrast, have had barely any missing. Tim Broomhead (broken leg) and ACL pair Matt Scharanberg and Lynden Dunn are all progressing well from significant injuries, while Jeremy Howe (leg) and Jack Crisp, who’s recovering from minor surgeries on his hip and shoulder are close to returning to full training.

Daniel Wells remains on a modified program and first year player Will Kelly is set to return to training next week after surgery on his ankle. Wells has been building up his training loads, but is still struggling to change direction quickly as he recovers from the foot injury that ended his 2018 campaign. Howe copped a fresh knock to the severe corkie that interrupted his finals series a week and a half ago, which means he's probably still two weeks away from training fully. Crisp is nearing full fitness and should take part in the club's match simulation on Friday. With only 37 days until round one and just three weeks until the JLT pre-season series, the small injury list and Collingwood represents a major turn around from the poor run the club has endured in recent years.

Darcy Moore – who managed just seven games last year - was best on ground in match simulation last week, a game that saw Jamie Elliott take another step towards an AFL return. The pair haven’t played together in the AFL since round 23 of 2017, a match that saw Moore take 10 marks and Elliott kick three goals. The short injury list comes as the club re-signed Crisp and Will Hoskin-Elliott to new long-term contract extensions that will keep them at the club until 2023 and 2022 respectively. Both players enjoyed arguably their best seasons in the Pies' march to the grand final last year and Collingwood list manager Ned Guy said the 25-year-olds are "reaching the sweet spots of their careers". Forward Will Hoskin-Elliott (left) and key half-back Jack Crisp (centre) have extended their contracts to 2022 and 2023 respectively. Credit:AAP

"At the end of the 2018 season, retention was a focus for us," he said. "Jack and Will were obvious priorities in that regard, given the seasons they produced." Crisp and Hoskin-Elliott played every match in 2018, a year in which they both made their 100th appearances in the AFL. Since joining Collingwood from Brisbane in 2014 in the deal that initially sent Dayne Beams to the Lions, Crisp has made 92 appearances in black and white. He finished fourth in last year's best and fairest count having quickly adapted to a new role at half-back, and has finished in the top 10 of the best and fairest award in each of his four seasons with the Magpies.

Hoskin-Elliott debuted as a Greater Western Sydney foundation player in 2012 before being traded to Collingwood at the end of 2016. The Age reported in November that Collingwood were looking to extend his contract, which was set to expire in 2020, as part of a wider plan to lock down senior players on longer, carefully weighted deals to conform with the tight salary cap. Last year, the mobile forward was his side's second-top goalscorer with 42 goals, up from 18 in 2017. He played his 100th match and kicked one goal in Collingwood's 74-79 grand final loss to West Coast last year. Pie turned Lion Dayne Beams re-joined Collingwood on a four-year deal in November, while Western Bulldog Jordan Roughead also signed on last year.

A raft of integral players including Steele Sidebottom, Tom Langdon and Darcy Moore – who was linked with Sydney – extended their contracts in 2018. Attention will now likely turn to the contracts of players such as Tyson Goldsack, Levi Greenwood and Travis Varcoe, whose deals are all due to finish at the end of this season. With Michael Fowler.