Collingwood star Jordan De Goey is expected to miss at least one more week with a hamstring injury as the Pies sweat on his availability before finals.
The 23-year-old was spotted at scans on Monday afternoon ahead of Saturday’s trip to face Adelaide, however the Pies have allayed fears he had suffered a fresh setback.
Instead, his absence is set to extend to a third week as a result of the original injury and is no certainty to return for the final round against Essendon on August 23.
De Goey is one of several Pies fighting soft-tissue injuries, along with Darcy Moore who is also expected to miss the clash with the Crows.
"Speaking to our medical guys this morning, it would be expected both him (De Goey) and Darcy would come up a bit short," Pies head of football Geoff Walsh told AFL.com.au.
"(De Goey) hasn’t re-injured (his hamstring)."
De Goey had originally told Triple M last Monday that he had been hopeful of returning for last week’s win over Melbourne or the match against the Crows.
Should De Goey and Moore miss the final round against the Bombers, the Pies could have at least three inclusions for the opening week of finals with Jaidyn Stephenson to return from his betting suspension.
Meanwhile, utility Ben Reid completed a one-on-one running session on Monday morning as he keeps the door ajar for an unlikely late season return from his latest hamstring injury sustained last month.
Collingwood’s VFL side has a bye this weekend, with fellow veteran Daniel Wells hoping to put his hand up to play the following week for the first time since his round 10 PCL injury.