JACK Payne will miss the rest of the home-and-away season, says Brisbane coach Chris Fagan.
Payne has missed the past five matches with a foot injury and did his first light running at Tuesday's training session.
The Lions had hoped the key defender would be available for the round 24 match against Essendon, but Fagan ruled that out on Thursday morning.
"I don't think Jack will play before finals," he said, acknowledging his side are not yet guaranteed to feature in September.
"Hopefully he can play a reserves (VFL) game in the bye leading into the first week of finals."
Payne's absence is significant for the Lions given they are already missing Darcy Gardiner and Tom Doedee for the season following knee reconstructions.
It has left co-captain Harris Andrews to play alongside Ryan Lester and more recently Darragh Joyce in the key posts down back.
"Injuries are part and parcel of it.," Fagan said.
"We'd like to get a few of our backline stocks together so that we could put our strongest line-up out come finals time.
"But you know what? We haven't made finals yet. It's still mathematically possible that we could miss out, so we've just got to focus on this weekend."
Brisbane will face Collingwood at the MCG on Saturday afternoon and must defeat either the Magpies or Bombers the following week to sew up a spot in the top eight. Two wins would keep the door ajar for a top four finish and double chance in September.
Fagan is still unsure whether Eric Hipwood will be available for the Grand Final rematch, with the rangy forward – who is being considered as a defender – missing the past fortnight with groin soreness.
"I'm not 100 per cent certain he'll play, but he's certainly a lot better than he was this time last week," he said.
Despite the finals implications and opponent, Fagan described Saturday's game as "just another home and away game".
"You can build it up if you want to, but for us, it's just another team we have to play and we have to beat to finish as high up the ladder as we can.
"If that means it finishes their finals opportunity, then that's ok too."