McRae dismissed any restrictions on De Goey’s plans for the break after he was handed a suspended fine of $25,000 for “disrespectful” video that was posted on social media from Bali during the bye last year.

“I have absolute trust in Jordy,” McRae said.

De Goey was not at the club on Wednesday due to feeling sick, and McRae said the Magpies made anyone with symptoms stay home to avoid larger outbreaks, although illness had hit several players and staff in the past few weeks.

The Magpies will find it hard to replace De Goey’s ability to win the football and push his team forward but McRae is hopeful that several key players will prove their fitness in time for Monday’s game, led by midfielder Patrick Lipinski, who missed the first half of the season following shoulder surgery.

McRae had to stop himself from pumping up Lipinski too much in his first game since last season.

“I don’t think we can replace him, but we can bring in a player to play a different role,” McRae said.

“We will make some decisions later in the week.

“Lipinski has done a power of work. He has actually done more work in the last month than he was able to do in the whole pre-season, which is exciting for us as he is our best runner, our highest GPS runner, so when some in the game will be looking for the bye, this kid is going to come in.

“Hopefully, I’m not putting too much pressure on him, but he will be running a lot.

“He’s in our best 22. He’s so important to the way we transition. I thought he was the best kick inside 50 we had.”

Jamie Elliott is a “wait and see” prospect to face the Demons, while Will Hoskin-Elliott was expected to train and be available. Beau McCreery is “touch and go” for Monday despite being off crutches.

Daniel McStay will likely be available for selection but injured key defender Jeremy Howe will not be considered, with McRae describing him as still being “a few weeks away”.

‘Taken his voice, not his spirit’: Neale Daniher still finds a way to speak despite losing voice to MND

Monday’s game will again include the annual Big Freeze fundraiser to fight motor neuron disease.

Fight MBD campaign director Bec Daniher, whose father Neale Daniher continues to battle MND, said the annual game and activities such as the sale of blue and white beanies had raised nearly $70 million for research towards a cure since its inception in 2015.

Neale met with Melbourne, the club he coached to a grand final in 2000, on Tuesday and was scheduled to meet the Magpies on Wednesday afternoon despite having lost his power of speech.

“This is grand final week for us at Fight MND,” Bec Daniher said.

“It’s our opportunity to show everyone who is out there battling the beast, that there is an army supporting them.

“Dad gets energy from this. He does his talks to the players in a different way now that MND has taken his voice, but it hasn’t taken his spirit.

“He’s got an eye-gaze machine. He has had a bit of fun with it. He’s still the head coach, so he had to find a way to communicate with everyone.”

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