Veteran forward Anthony Rocca celebrated his shock selection for the Magpies' qualifying final against St Kilda with a sprightly final hitout at Gosch's Paddock on Saturday morning.
The 32-year-old's recall for just his fourth senior outing for the season and first since the last time the Pies met the Saints in Round 7, has been warmly embraced by team-mate Shane O'Bree, the Pies' second-most experienced player with 218 matches for the club, just one behind Rocca.
O'Bree said he's never seen 'Pebbles' looking so trim and fresh.
"Anthony deserves his spot in the side," said O'Bree. "It's not as if we've given him a game for the sake of being Anthony Rocca, he's really deserved his spot and it's a credit to him."
"He'll definitely inspire us because we know with Anthony Rocca being down in our forward line there's just his knowledge of playing up forward plus it takes a good defender to pay on him."
"Even if he's not getting a kick his presence up forward is great and definitely finals experience is the key."
"I know that in our years 2002 and 2003 when we were paying in grand finals he was the key to us having a great finals campaign."
While Rocca shone on the track, so too did Scott Pendlebury who appears to have fully recovered from the back injury which forced his late withdrawal from last Sunday's loss to the Western Bulldogs which relegated the Pies to a fourth-place finish heading into September.
The senior squad trained with the addition of several extras but back-up ruckman and nominated emergency Cameron Wood who was unlucky to be dropped for Sunday, was not among them.
O'Bree said the Pies were less concerned with the Saints' past three weeks during which they suffered their only two defeats for the season to Essendon and North Melbourne, than their form across the entire home-and-away season.
"The last three weeks St Kilda's probably just been looking for the finals and they might have taken their foot off the pedal a little bit," he said.
"But they're still a great team and we know that in the first week of the finals it's a new ball game."
Brad Scott's departure following his appointment to the senior post at North had left a hole in the coaching structure at the Lexus Centre, O'Bree conceded, but the club's new midfield manager Blake Caracella has settled in nicely.
"It's definitely a big loss losing Brad, but all year and even the last couple of years under Guy McKenna the midfield players have really taken ownership ourselves," said O'Bree.
"It's a big loss losing Brad, but we've been able to handle it."
"For us to be a good team we've got to be hard on ourselves and stick to the structures so it's up to us to take ownership of that and really be hard on ourselves when people go away from it."