Collingwood midfielder Taylor Adams is confident the Magpies can put their thumping round-eight loss to West Coast behind them when they take on the Eagles in next Saturday's AFL elimination final.
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The Magpies face a long flight to Perth on Friday, followed by seven days' hotel quarantine before playing the Eagles at Optus Stadium.
"We've got a great challenge ahead of us," Adams, who was this week named All-Australian for the first time alongside teammate Darcy Moore, told reporters on Friday.
"We're playing a quality team on their home deck which is always a tough ask, getting over to Perth, but we're looking forward to it.
"I feel like the boys really relish the opportunity of being backs against the wall and us against them so we're looking forward to it.
"... We know we're a real shot at coming back with a win and our mindset is our season doesn't end next week."
In round eight, despite Scott Pendlebury withdrawing through injury just before the opening bounce, Collingwood led West Coast early before the Eagles overwhelmed them to win by 66 points.
"That was probably them at the peak of their powers," Adams said.
"We got smacked around the ball and we couldn't get any flow in our game so it was a great learning opportunity for us.
"It was the only outlier for this year where we probably lacked real effort and intent across four quarters."
The Eagles are set to regain Luke Shuey (hamstrings), Jack Redden (thumb), Jeremy McGovern (hamstring) and Jamie Cripps for the game while Lewis Jetta (calf) and Mark Hutchings (hamstring) will be available.
Adams said the Magpies would miss Steele Sidebottom, who opted to remain in Victoria with his young family following the birth of his first child due to complex logistics around COVID-19 quarantine protocols.
"Steele will probably find really difficult to sit back and watch the boys run out on Saturday night and I know how torn he was with his ability to get back and whether or not it was possible," Adams said.
"So we've just supported him through this time and he's continued to do that in his presence off the field."
Meanwhile, veteran tall Ben Reid has retired from AFL football after 152 matches and 73 goals.
Reid, 31, was set to make the trip to Western Australia but had a setback at training on Thursday and did not fly to Perth.
Drafted at Pick 8 in the 2006 draft, Reid was a Collingwood premiership player in 2010 and the All-Australian centre-half back in 2011.
Australian Associated Press
