North Melbourne premiership great David King believes Collingwood must bring back midfielder Jordan De Goey from a club-imposed suspension for their must-win ANZAC Day clash with Essendon.
De Goey was suspended by the club for three weeks after lying about how he sustained a broken hand on the eve of Collingwood's season opener.
The midfielder told the club he injured his hand playing with his dog, but it was later revealed he was involved in a bar fight.
The 21-year-old missed the opening three rounds of the season recovering from the injury, and will now spend the following two weeks in the reserves to round out his sentence.
Although, following a brilliant display for Collingwood's VFL side in which he collected 26 disposals and kicked three goals in their narrow two-point win over Coburg, King believes the Pies must retract their suspension and play the youngster anyway.
โI just think thereโs more at stake on Tuesday,โ King told Fox Footyโs AFL 360 on Wednesday night.
โI know they suspended Jordan De Goey for all the right reasons, but sometimes youโve just got to say โwho cares what the world thinks? Weโve got to control our own destinyโ.
โI would look at the suspension. He paid a heavy price. The public fallout was huge, heโs been embarrassed as an individual and heโs embarrassed the coach.
โBut you know what โ Eddie McGuire and Nathan Buckley would be saying he played his game in the reserves, absolutely brained them, couldnโt have been better and handled it perfectly.
โGet him in and tell him โyouโve got one place you need to pay us back and thatโs at 2.30pm on Tuesday afternoon โ you give us everythingโ.
โAnd you know what? Who cares what the outside world says? Because Buckleyโs job, in a lot of ways, is on the line.
โI just think Tuesday is too important to have a player like that โ who is a Rolls-Royce, heโs a goalkicker โ (you need to) get him in the team.โ
Carlton great Mark Maclure sided with King's views, saying the Pies need to put the incident behind them and do what's best for the club this season.
โIf they bring De Goey in then thatโs great,โ Maclure said.
โI actually agree with (King) totally. Who cares? Forget the standards. Heโs paid to play footy and he can.โ
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