Collingwood coach Craig McRae says the club will celebrate Jeremy Howe's 250th game this week, but it won't need extra motivation when facing Sydney on Friday at the SCG.
The Pies' season hangs by a thread as they will need to win the remaining three home and away games to be in with a shot for finals, starting with the Swans in Round 22.
The SCG hasn't generally been a happy swooping ground for Collingwood, losing six of their past eight encounters, including the 2022 preliminary final by one point.
Despite Collingwood's mini resurgence in the past fortnight, taking down arch-rivals Richmond and Carlton to keep their flag defence alive, a cost of the Blues victory was the high-grade hamstring injury to match-winner Jordan De Goey, who McRae says he's irreplaceable.
"We don't replace Jordy," McRae said.
"He's not replaceable but we look at other avenues and other options for us.
"His centre bounce work is as good as anyone in the competition and the impact in games, what he can do... he really has high impact.
"He can play as a midfielder and forward and sometimes he plays in between those phases so we'll look deeper into what that looks like.
"So, hard to replace, but we'll find someone that can do something (similar)."
Three names that immediately come to mind to replace De Goey are Harvey Harrison, Lachie Sullivan and Finlay Macrae, who have all had significant stretches in the senior side.
"It's nice to have players that have got experience," McRae said.
Patrick Lipinski could also be promoted from the sub role while Nathan Kreuger has been cleared of concussion protocols and could be utilised to help stretch the undersized Swan's defence.
Sydney's form of late suggests that the ladder leaders are sitting precariously heading toward September, losing five of their past six games, including a 112-point thumping from Port Adelaide last week.
Despite the Power dismantling the Swans, McRae is buying into the "outlier" match, saying John Longmire's men are on top for a reason.
"It was a game like I hadn't seen before," McRae said. "And I think those outlier games are hard to sort of measure.
"But there are some things (that we'll take out of what Port Adelaide did).
"We go in with confidence but with the outlier last week, you'd think there'll be a different version of them.
"John (Longmire) is talking about contest... they're a high-pressure team and they're still sitting on top of the ladder for a reason.
"They got a lot of quality and will be hard to beat them at home."
Following the high of Scott Pendlebury's milestone game, best mate and teammate Howe joins in on the celebrations, preparing for his 250th.
The former Demon played 100 games for Melbourne, whilst Friday will be his 150th in the black and white.
"We've got a plan we'll tackle with... milestones are one thing but we don't want to play better because of a milestone," McRae said.
"We don't want to play more urgent because of a milestone.
"We want to play a certain standard and have our DNA attached to those things.
"Every week our fans want to watch us bring the best version of us.
"And milestones are the cream of the cake and we'll celebrate (Howe) before the game, and ideally after as well."
