It's time to unleash Collingwood midfielder Ed Allan in the midfield.
Coming off a best-on-ground 28 disposal performance in the VFL last week, former captain Scott Pendlebury's achilles injury opens the door for the Magpies to expose a young midfielder.
Allan started 2026 in the ones, before being omitted after 10 and eight disposal performances playing on the wing.
With the prototypical size and athleticism to burst through stoppage, win clearances and gain territory, he has been given limited opportunity in the engine room so far at the top level.
Drafted as a player capable of playing inside or outside, the long-term view has always been that he will become a starting midfielder, given his traits.
Across 17 games, he has attended just 36 centre ball-ups, of which just one has been this year.
Of those attendances, 17 came in Collingwood's last game of 2024, his second at the level, where Allan earned his only career coaches vote, off the back of a 21-disposal, six-tackle and three-clearance effort.
For all the hype and discussion about AFL Coaches Association player of the year leader Nick Daicos, Collingwood's midfield numbers so far in 2026 paint a bleak picture.
The club rates last for centre clearances, third-last for stoppage clearances, second-last for contested possessions, second-last for hardball gets, and third-last for groundball gets.
The clearance stats are the most concerning, putting the backline, which has largely been undermanned this season, under immediate pressure.
A player with acceleration, agility and generally clean hands - notwithstanding a nervy first fortnight of 2026 - is a perfect component to add.
Having served an apprenticeship and been invested in as a player to carry Collingwood forward, it's time to see what the 21-year-old has got.
It's the perfect time of year to give him exposure and provide him with the opportunity to make an irresistible case to stay in the engine room, for the Pies will have plenty of time to adjust if necessary.
On Friday night, debutant Oscar Steene lifted the Magpie army with his youthful exuberance and eye-catching leap, giving his side a big advantage at centre stoppage.
But to a supporter base starved of genuine young talent not named Daicos since the pandemic, he represented something more: optimism that there are green shoots to cushion the fall from the seemingly inevitable cliff.
Allan has not yet shown the same capacity to be a difference-maker, but now is the ideal time to give him greater responsibility and see if he sinks or swims.
Despite limited game time in 2026, Pendlebury has still attended 35 percent of the Magpies' centre ball-ups this year, playing the role of architect.
Undoubtedly, the Magpies will miss his leadership, but no club in the competition has defied expectations so consistently since Craig McRae's arrival in 2022 by complying with the system with such unrelenting discipline.
And what greater opponent to test Allan against than the benchmark of the competition on Easter Thursday at the Gabba?
