Collingwood coach Craig McRae has opted not to select forward Bobby Hill for Saturday's preliminary final against Brisbane at the MCG.
Hill was pressing his case for a shock recall after missing most of the past three months due to personal reasons.
The 2023 Norm Smith medallist has played half a senior game of football since Round 16, which was against the Lions.
"Bobby won't play," McRae said on Thursday.
"It was really difficult. I told him before training, based on a lot of little things. It was a conversation that was hard for him to hear.
"Credit to him, he trained really well. It shows how far he's come. This is not permanent, as I said to him."
McRae said the "little things" were about Hill's preparedness and the feeling from the group, saying "selection integrity" came into consideration.
"There's a selection integrity part," McRae continued.
"What's the integrity of form? Then there's the high-performance nature of it, how much work have you done, then there's the tactical part, what does the team need right now?"
But he didn't rule out Hill for a grand final recall.
Intercept defender Jeremy Howe also trained well on Thursday and is looking more likely to return.
"Howey is going to ask a lot of questions too," the 2023 premiership coach said.
"We're going to go match committee to make a decision on him. We're going to marry up all his loads, and we'll decide this afternoon."
Key forward Brody Mihocek has been cleared to play on Saturday despite fears he may miss the crucial clash.
The consistently sore Mihocek was seen leaving the training track early last week and has been dealing with a toe injury since the Adelaide victory a fortnight ago.
On Thursday, the veteran tall did everything to prove to the match committee that he was right to take on the Lions, moving freely and leading strongly in match simulation.
Mason Cox has also been confirmed as a starter on Saturday, keeping Dan McStay outside the senior team.
Cox replaced McStay a fortnight ago, and could be used to combat Harris Andrews' aerial dominance.
The former Lion was the hard-luck story in 2023, going down injured in the club's narrow preliminary final win over GWS.
And now appears on the outer.
"I have been managing those conversations," McRae said of keeping McStay focused.
"There's a lot of guys that can easily play this week. We've got great depth, which suggests why we're in this position.
"Dan's had a great attitude. He's in our leadership group. He trained really well this week, and we'll be there if we need him."
Will Hoskin-Elliott could also come into selection consideration as the sub.
