“Pain-free” De Goey raring to go after huge pre-season and tough 2024 campaign

Jordan De Goey is itching to make his comeback against the Western Bulldogs at the MCG on Friday night.

The star Magpie last played in Round 21, 2024 where he kicked two goals and picked up 12 disposals against Carlton before severely injuring his hamstring, ruling him out for the season.

It was a difficult 2024 for De Goey on the back of his 2023 premiership heroics, with that hamstring injury one of many health concerns including a persistent groin problem that saw him head to Doha in the off-season to rehabilitate and reprogram his body.

Having overcome his groin concern and most recently bruising in his knee as the club took a conservative approach to his recovery, De Goey is thrilled to finally be ready to play again pain-free.

“It's good, it's back to normal, which is nice,” De Goey told SEN Breakfast.

“I’ve felt like a bit of an old man for the last year, so it's good to be back pain-free and I’m looking forward to getting out there.

“It's just been the groin. It's been a pretty big issue for me personally with day-to-day pain and stuff like that, which was frustrating, but I’ve just had to let it settle, build the muscles up around it and here we are now.”

While De Goey played 13 games in 2024 and even had some dominant appearances, he admits he was never fully healthy and eventually had to rule himself out as his groin hampered his ability to impact games.

“Probably the club allowed me to decide that (to play on hampered),” De Goey said.

“I put my hand up for a period of time there (to play diminished), and then it just got to a certain point where I felt as if I couldn't perform for the team and there was going to be someone that would fill my role and do a better job.

“So, at that point, I just had to decide to step back and do what was best for the team.”

While his pre-season hasn’t all been smooth sailing, De Goey hopes that the fitness he’s built up as the club has held him back from playing in recent weeks holds him in good stead for the rest of 2025.

“I'm pretty close, to be honest (to absolute full fitness),” De Goey said.

“Obviously, that match fitness is a whole different ball game. So, on the weekend, I'll work myself into the game and get my legs underneath me.

“But in terms of the fitness block I've done, for sure I’m ready. I’ve worked with Jarrod Wade the head of fitness. We built a plan at the start of the year, and we've managed to execute it even though I could have potentially got the call-up last week to play.

“But we made sure we did it properly and we waited a little bit longer to make sure I finished it.

“Overall, it’s been really good, so I'm excited just to get out there now.”

Friday’s clash between Collingwood and the Western Bulldogs at the MCG begins at 7:40 pm (AEDT).