A FIT AND relaxed-looking group of Collingwood's front-line footballers strutted their stuff at the Northern Oval on Friday - one month into the AFL club's pre-season.
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With coach Mick Malthouse overseas, Ballarat physiotherapist Chris Howley took a group of 10 senior Magpies through some running drills.
Included in the group were captain Nathan Buckley, Shane Wakelin, Glenn Freeborn, Mark Richardson, Jarrod Molloy, Tarkyn Lockyer, Scott Burns and Jim Clement, while on bicycles around the city streets were deputy vice-captain Anthony Rocca and Paul Licuria.
Rocca and Licuria said they were on the bikes as part of rehabilitation for niggling injuries.
While captain Buckley, 29, looked fit enough to win a Brownlow next season he played down Collingwood's prospects.
"There is a good community feeling about us. It is just a matter of doing something about it (on the ground)," Buckley told The Courier.
"We are just taking things quietly, we have come here away from prying eyes..." he said.
"It is a chance for us to get out of Melbourne, a new environment and freshen up before we get into the new season."
The Pies began pre-season a day after the Melbourne Cup with expectations of a big year in 2002.
If Buckley is any indication of the fitness and determination, Collingwood will be one of the yardsticks of the AFL in 2002. Another group of Magpies worked out in Ballarat on Saturday.
