Brent Macaffer Biography

Two of Heritier Lumumba's premiership teammates, Brent Macaffer and Chris Dawes, have backed the former Pie's claim he had the nickname 'chimp' during his time at the club, a nickname that led to Lumumba accusing the club of entrenched racism.

"The nickname 'the chimp' and stuff like that which absolutely I remember clearly like that was (his) nickname from whenever I got to the football club in 2006," Macaffer told SBS.

Dawes added: "You mentioned the nickname 'chimp'. I heard that a couple times."

Collingwood premiership players Alan Toovey and Brent Macaffer will retire after the VFL finals.

"Today was a great opportunity to celebrate the careers of a couple of guys that have been fantastic clubmen," Collingwood coach Nathan Buckley told Fox Footy.

"It was fantastic to share (it) with players and staff alike, and it was literally a celebration of what they've contributed to the club, not necessarily 'goodbye'."

Brent Macaffer remains hopeful he will be with the Magpies next season, and is determined to prove his worth in the final seven rounds.

"I love this football club. If I am lucky enough to be given another year here, absolutely that is what I want to do," Macaffer said.

"I couldn't imagine going somewhere else. Hopefully I can keep getting a kick on weekend and performing my role."

Collingwood adds Taylor Adams and Brent Macaffer to its five-man leadership group.

The duo join skipper Scott Pendlebury along with Steele Sidebottom and Nathan Brown in the group.

The fear that he may seriously re-injure his knee will never leave Brent Macaffer, but the Collingwood midfielder is learning to move past those feelings of trepidation.

Macaffer, 27, made his comeback to football in the VFL last weekend, almost 12 months to the day he ruptured the anterior cruciate ligament in his right knee against Greater Western Sydney in round 22, 2014.

"If it's going to happen again, it's going to happen again," a pragmatic Macaffer said.

"That's the way it is. But it's not going to be at the forefront of my mind and I'm excited to be back playing."

Macaffer believes he is yet to reach his peak.

"I'm at that age where I'm 27, 28 next year so I'm in that prime physical state that I'm going to be in," Macaffer said.

"Hopefully I can play for another few years and really contribute to this footy team."

Brent Macaffer's will undergo arthroscopic surgery on his troublesome knee as he recovers from a knee reconstruction.

The Magpies expect the operation to set his recovery back three to four weeks, but are hopeful the surgery will be minor.

"They will have an arthroscope to see how it goes," Collingwood football manager Neil Balme said.

"We're certainly not expecting anything too serious, but it will certainly hold him back."

Brent Macaffer is confident he can return before the end of the 2015 season, as the Collingwood tagger prepares for his second knee reconstruction.

"There's no way around it other than getting stuck into rehab straight away," Macaffer said.

"Having been through it before, I know what to expect and the hurdles coming up."

Brent Macaffer ruptures the anterior cruciate ligament in his right knee after twisting his knee during an innocuous moment in the third term of Collingwood's eight-point win over GWS. He left the field immediately aided by trainers.

"I really felt for Macaffer in particular," Collingwood coach Nathan Buckley said.

"When you go to the three-quarter time huddle and you can see some of his teammates in tears because they know what's happened and they know what he's been through ... that tells you something about the make-up of our playing group."

Brent Macaffer says he has modeled his tagging game closely to Docker Ryan Crowley.

"He's the No.1 guy for the past seven or eight years," Macaffer said.

"I think most guys who are tagging now would be stupid not to look at him and see why he's been so successful.

"It's his mental application and his discipline to his role. That's something I've taken out of the way he plays."

Brent Macaffer says he has to adjust to umpires paying more attention to his tagging tactics.

"I was a bit frustrated in the first half; I felt like every time I touched someone it was a free kick. But that's the way it is now so I've just got to learn to deal with that," Macaffer said.

"I think to a certain point I try and stick to my guns, but I think the way it is now after the last few weeks, the focus is on guys that are tagging. You have to have a look at what you're doing and maybe try a few different things, so it's something that I'll look at."

Collingwood has sought clarification from the umpiring department about the tactics used by tagger Brent Macaffer after he received strong criticism for his defensive stopping role on Richmond star Trent Cotchin.

"We've had communication with the umpiring department and asked them to send any unwarranted or missed free kicks through in regard to the Macaffer and Cotchin duel," Collingwood coach Nathan Buckley said.

"They sent through two edits. One of them was questionable, in our eyes. So their feedback was that the game was umpired well, which is against the hysteria that's taken place."

Trent Cotchin says some of Brent Macaffer's tagging techniques against him were illegal.

"We know there's been taggers in the game for donkey's years but, just at times, I thought I was being held illegally," Cotchin told Channel 7's Game Day program.

"But the reality is there's three umpires out there, they're doing the best they can and the onus is on myself to win the footy and to have my teammates helping me out."

Magpie Brent Macaffer to wear No. 3 as a tribute to his close friend John McCarthy who died while on an end of season trip with Port Adelaide teammates in Las Vegas in September 2012.

"Just before Christmas, obviously with J-Mac passing and him wearing the number three, it was the last number he wore before he left, he was a really close mate of mine," Macaffer said.

"Before I got to ask Bucks, he called me up and actually asked if I wanted to take that number. It was a nice gesture of him as well, I suppose, to think of me and to do that.

"I straight away said 'yeah, absolutely I'd love to do that,' and to wear the number and sort of represent him on behalf of the boys.

"That was the number he wore last, so I feel really humbled and privileged to do that."

Andrew Krakouer and Brent Macaffer have signed one-year contract extensions with Collingwood.

Andrew Krakouer and Brent Macaffer made successful returns to the playing field on Saturday.

"I thought that understandably both guys looked a little bit hesitant early. They certainly looked more comfortable the longer the game went on," Collingwood VFL coach Tarkyn Lockyer said.

"The pleasing thing to come out of the game was to get them back and for them to get through the game unscathed."

Nathan Buckley says the Pies have received an emotional boost with the imminent return of some fan favourites in Andrew Krakouer and Brent Macaffer.

"At various times, the environment of a footy club is very challenging and there's plenty of times when you get knocked on your arse and it might be a bit flat around the place," Buckley said.

"But when you get two guys like 'Krak' and 'Caff' who have gone through what they've gone through, and then pushed through the other side … their teammates, their coaches and everyone around the footy club are enormously proud of what they've been able to achieve."

Knee reconstruction victims Andrew Krakouer and Brent Macaffer may return to the field within two weeks.

"They're doing full contact training, which is great," teammate Andrew Fasolo said.

"We don't really know if they'll get back … for anyone who does an ACL, you have to take a cautious approach. so we'll just wait and see.

"They've been out on the track doing a fair bit lately and it's incredible to see them out doing that already, so fingers crossed."

After undergoing pre-season knee reconstructions, Collingwood's Andrew Krakouer and Brent Macaffer will play within the month.

"He's actually been going really well, Andrew Krakouer," teammate Harry O'Brien told Perth radio 6PR.

"Himself and Brent Macaffer both did their knees within a week of each other in the pre-season. … and they're both well ahead of what we've expected.

"I know that's a bit of a cliché for people who do their knees now-a-days … but I can tell you right now, they'll be playing within the next month."

Collingwood coach Nathan Buckley fears Brent Macaffer has ruptured his ACL during the Magpies' NAB Cup match against the Western Bulldogs in Blacktown.

"Unfortunately Brent Macaffer has more than likely done his ACL, which is a poor result for us," Buckley said at a post-match press conference.

"Some people seem to get more obstacles than they deserve. He has had a fantastic pre-season. He has put himself in decent nick as every AFL footballer needs to to give themselves a chance. It's really unfortunate for him.

"We hope for the best but we expect the worst."

Magpie premiership player Brent Macaffer reveals he was close to leaving the club at the end of the season.

"By the end of the year I was pretty burnt-out mentally, just injuries and form and that sort of stuff," Macaffer said.

"Looking back right now I'm so glad I did stay because I've made a lot of good friendships here and I'm really comfortable at the place. So I'm very happy with the decision I made to stay here."

Brent Macaffer has recommitted for the 2012 season and is eager to rediscover the form that made him a premiership player under new coach Nathan Buckley.

"This year was really frustrating with both form and injury," Macaffer said of his 2011 season.

"Once Bucks told me he wanted me to stay, it was just a matter of letting my manager work out the deal that both me and the club wanted. Bucks said I could play a pivotal role in the side if I was able to get back to my 2010 form, which I know I can."

Brent Macaffer says he started his career tentative before a breakout match against St Kilda last season made him realize that he belonged at AFL level.

"It's fair to say I've struggled with that most of my career, just holding back and not wanting to step on anyone's toes or anything like that," he said.

"The more time I've spent at Collingwood, the more time I've learned to back myself and have a crack, and the rest will follow. That happened last year, so hopefully I'll just keep building on that and going forward."

Collingwood forward Brent Macaffer has spoken of his battles with injury - both this year and in 2010.

"The foot problem started earlier in the year. I had a cracked fracture that I did in the round two game against the Kangaroos where I went to kick the ball and someone ran across the front of my foot," he said.

"Instead of kicking the ball, I ended up kicking the front of their shin."