Collingwood won't rush captain Darcy Moore back from injury with coach Craig McRae ruling him out of Saturday's Anzac Day blockbuster against Essendon.
In better news for the Pies, livewire forward Bobby Hill is set to make his highly anticipated return to footy via the VFL on Friday.
Hill signed a four-year extension last April, but has only managed seven subsequent appearances and wasn't a part of the Pies' 2025 finals campaign. He tallied 14 games last year and was last seen in the Round 22 loss against the Lions at the MCG, when used as the substitute.
The 2023 Norm Smith Medallist was on a leave of absence from Collingwood and dealing with a delicate personal matter, before returning to the club last month.
Hill, who was absent from the Magpies' main training session earlier this week and remains on an individual program, will have his minutes managed in the Friday afternoon VFL clash against Essendon at KGM Centre.
Elsewhere, Jordan De Goey (concussion) and Steele Sidebottom (hip pointer) will make their AFL returns after missing last week's clash, forcing a selection squeeze ahead of Thursday's final team announcement.
Moore was pushing a return from a hamstring injury he sustained in Round 3, but with a short five-day turnaround before next week's clash against Hawthorn, McRae and the Pies high-performance team opted against risking the skipper.
The key defender was the last player on the track at Olympic Park.
"It makes sense to keep him working through with his loads," McRae said.
"There's a plan to get yourself right," McRae said in response to the club being conservative following Moore's premature return a month ago.
"We're being conservative a little bit. But given future games, it makes the decision a little bit harder.
"Ultimately, he hasn't quite done enough load. So that's where we stand. This is a high-performance decision."
The inclusion of Sidebottom and De Goey might force the omission of Will Hayes and Ed Allan.
The Pies pair came in for the injured premiership duo last week, but could be unlucky to miss given how they performed against the Blues.
