The Swans co-captain strained his medial ligament in the Swans’ 11-point loss to Hawthorn at the MCG and although he has improved with a weekend off, Roos said he was still only “50-50” to play against the Magpies.
“He ran a little bit yesterday, he’s certainly improving every day. He’ll be touch and go before the game so we’ll obviously leave it as late as we possibly can,” Roos said on Tuesday.
“One thing we’ve learned from the season, not only from our point of view but from other clubs, is that you can’t play players that are unfit. The game’s just too fast.
“As great a player as Craig Bolton is, you’re better to play a younger player or a player that’s fit. We certainly won’t play him if there’s any doubt.”
Roos said Bolton would likely be named in the team on Thursday night but he needed to train well to confirm his place.
Should he be a late withdrawal, Roos said Heath Grundy would move from the forward line as his replacement and another player would be brought in.
Bolton’s possible absence looms as a blow to the Swans as they attempt to break a six-game losing streak against the Magpies at ANZ Stadium on Saturday night.
Roos paid tribute to Collingwood’s versatility and said his side needed to match the Magpies’ even contributions across the field to have any chance of winning.
“I think one of their greatest strengths – similar to ours under Mick’s tutelage at Collingwood – is that they never ever really seem to really rely on any one or two players,” he said.
“They’ve got some real quality – [Alan] Didak, [Dane] Swan, Leon Davis, Travis Cloke – but I don’t think they rely on those quality players just to win the game.
“We’ll need 15, 17 players playing really well in order to beat them and we haven’t had that against them the last five or six times we’ve played them.”
