Collingwood are adamant hard-nosed defender Brayden Maynard will be ready for their AFL season opener against GWS, and haven't ruled out Jordan De Goey joining him.
Maynard, who is recovering from plantar fasciitis, was managed for Wednesday night's pre-season win over Richmond, while De Goey is still building fitness from a knee issue.
Vice-captain Maynard should be cleared for next Sunday's away match against the Giants.
"We expect Brayden to play," assistant coach Jordan Roughead said.
"He had a little bit of soreness through his foot after the game (against Gold Coast) last weekend, and we just wanted to make sure that we set him up to have a really strong season.
"And this was the right selection for this week."
De Goey has been limited after suffering bone bruising on the top of his fibula in a clash of knees at training, and will have an intense session on Thursday.
The Magpies have made it clear they won't rush him at the expense of his fitness later in the season - but the explosive midfielder hasn't been ruled out of opening round yet.
"He's certainly pushing for it," Roughead said.
"He's going to train strongly tomorrow morning.
"He's one that we just need to make sure we get his loads to the right level and and inject him at the right time.
"We want to set him up similar to Brayden, and want to set him up to have a really strong season.
"So we're not going to prioritise round zero over the rest of the year and we're just going to make sure that we find the right balance."
Nick Daicos, who battled plantar fasciitis early in pre-season, starred in the 21.6 (132) to 6.13 (49) victory over Richmond, as Roughead played down any concerns over a left knee issue.
Mason Cox (broken finger) appears unlikely to feature against the Giants.
In his absence, Dan McStay impressed in a forward-ruck role against Richmond.
While supporting ruckman Darcy Cameron, McStay kicked two goals, as Brody Mihocek, recruit Tim Membrey and Bobby Hill nabbed four apiece.
Recruits Membrey, Dan Houston and Harry Perryman all hit the ground running.
Reef McInnes showed some signs down back while veteran Steele Sidebottom spent time as an inside midfielder
"We were sort of treating this as almost a full dress rehearsal for our game next week," Roughead said.
"So making sure that we had the right plans in place for different personnel and getting the minutes into them that we needed to set ourselves up to really be on the front foot going up to Sydney next week."
