Craig McRae has confirmed that Lachie Schultz will return from a hamstring injury for Collingwood's Friday night clash against Gold Coast.
The Pies small forward has missed the past four games with the soft tissue injury, and his early season was also thwarted by a concussion.
"He trained really, really well today, we were rapt for him," McRae said.
"He was ill last week which really was the only reason he didn't play.
"He was pushing the boundaries but he'll play this week."
Bobby Hill, meanwhile, will miss a third consecutive week for a personal reason, while he also missed Wednesday's main training session with illness.
The Suns are the first top eight side the Pies will face since Hawthorn in Round 12, with the coach indicating the club look to make some changes against a three-pronged tall forward line of Ben King, Jed Walter and Ethan Read given the injury of Billy Frampton.
“We're probably going to play a little bit undermanned at times with rotations but we'd like to think our system's going to catch that," McRae said.
“Whether that's extra support in the air or on the ground, our system has been pretty strong.
“We have the best points against in the competition for a reason – because there's not just one person.
“We miss Billy and he trained well so we'll look forward to getting him back in the coming weeks but we'll rely heavily on system.”
The Pies' contested footy took a big step forward against a Carlton side renowned for its acumen in that area of the game and they will be challenged by a brigade spearheaded by Matt Rowell, Noah Anderson and Touk Miller.
“Gold Coast are really hard to play against – their contest is strong, their inside is strong and we're looking up to getting up there with our Magpie army who travel everywhere around Australia to watch us play,” McRae said.
