Veteran defender Simon Prestigiacomo has failed to join his Collingwood team-mates at training, casting doubt over his availability for Saturday night's qualifying final against the Western Bulldogs.
Better news for the Pies is that the three senior regulars pressing for inclusion this week - Leigh Brown, Ben Johnson and Alan Didak - moved freely during Wednesday morning's session conducted in dull, drizzling conditions at Gosch's Paddock.
Brown is available after serving a one-week suspension, Johnson has recovered from the virus that forced his late withdrawal from last Saturday's loss to Hawthorn while Didak showed no signs of discomfort from the shoulder-pectoral complaint that prompted the selectors to rest him from the Hawks clash.
The club's No.1 ruckman and All-Australian nominee Darren Jolly trained also and didn't appear to be hampered by the badly broken nose he sustained on Saturday.
Addressing the media before training, assistant coach Mark Neeld said the club's fitness staff wanted to play it safe with 'Presti' who spent four days in hospital last week to have blood drained from deep bruising in a quad.
The 32-year-old, the most experienced player on the club's list, hasn't played since the Pies' big win over Essendon in Round 20.
"Presti won't come outside, Presti will train inside, but that's not unusual," said Neeld.
"The Bulldogs will have a scout here and he'll report back to (Bulldogs coach) 'Rocket' (Eade) that he didn't train outside, he trained inside and we expect him to get up and play."
Neeld said the Pies expect senior Bulldogs Brad Johnson and Ryan Griffen - who are rated by their coach as 50-50 chances at best - to play, and he doesn't believe the forecast of wet weather over the next four days will have a big bearing on the contest.
"I think 'Rocket' said the wet weather will favour them," Neeld said.
"That's OK, we've just told our boys the wet weather will favour us and that's a matter of opinion."
Neeld said the coaching group has been taking steps to address the team's inaccuracy in front of goal that's cost them dearly in recent weeks.
"We would love to kick more goals than behinds," he said.
"Our forward-line coach is arguably one of the best kicks to have ever played and the boys have got great tuition with 'Bucks' there and we're working on it."
"The positive is that if you're talking about us having 30 scoring shots, we'll take that."
"At least the ball's down there and they're having a go at it, they'll get it right."
Asked whether he's thrown his hat in the ring for the coaching vacancies at Essendon or Port Adelaide, Neeld, who's been closely linked to the job at Windy Hill, said: "Not at the moment."
"Everyone thinks about it and ... we all have thoughts of where you want to go in the future."
"But my theory would be that if you're an assistant coach, be the very best assistant coach you can be and if you do a good job someone may notice."
"So, the answer is yes, but I've qualified it with that."