Collingwood will make at least three changes for Sunday's clash with Fremantle at the MCG, with two Magpies confirmed to make way due to injury.
Coach Craig McRae will welcome the return of Beau McCreery (hamstring), Brody Mihocek (managed) and Patrick Lipinski (managed) for the highly-anticipated affair.
McRae confirmed all three will face the Dockers in what is a much-needed boost, given Dan Houston (abdominal) and Jeremy Howe (groin) will miss.
"Brody and Paddy will play," McRae said on Thursday.
"We've got a couple of other things happening behind the scenes at the moment. We'll see how we go.
"We're really excited to have Beau back. He was touch-and-go last week, and we chose to get a bit more load into him over the weekend.
"He'll play and bring back that chase and pressure, which we've missed the past month."
Small forward Bobby Hill will need another week of training and load building, while defender Bily Frampton has been ruled out of Sunday's game and is a chance to play in Round 20.
The absence of Frampton, Howe and Houston will significantly shift McRae's rear-guard plans, with the latter's omission likely meaning Josh Daicos will return to defence after a stellar fourth quarter in midfield against the Suns last Friday.
"Our backline has been pretty stable for most of the year," McRae said.
"Howie has been incredible for us this year, and Dan has played a pivotal role for us.
"As we've said all year, we're a system-based team and we haven't relied on any one individual. We rely on a collective. So, ideally, we'll pick guys who come in and do their job.
"Everyone in the footy world will be wondering where [Josh Daicos] starts this week. With Dan out, it'll be challenging to keep him out of the backline for major parts, but we'd be silly not to explore what that looks like, whether that's this week or going forward."
Daicos' brother, Nick, has been 'beaten up' a bit this season, according to McRae, with the Magpies weighing up how they best manage their star player for the entire season.
While a rest could do Daicos some good in the long run, his coach concedes it's "a challenge" to temper one of the game's most impactful ball winners.
"The facts were that he looks sore, and the GPS says that," McRae said of resting Daicos.
"He's getting beat up a bit, but that's part of the job, isn't it? We're consciously doing that all the time, we're looking at his loads at training.
"It's hard to keep him out, though. It's a challenge to keep one of the best players off the field."
The Magpies, who are chasing their 15th win of the season, will host the Dockers at 3:15pm (AEST) on Sunday.
