COLLINGWOOD midfielder Dane Swan will miss the Queen's Birthday clash against Melbourne with the Magpies about to send him and three other players to Arizona for a mid-season recovery camp.

The 27-year-old will depart for the 12-day camp next week after the Pies' Grand Final rematch with St Kilda on Saturday night.

"When we have spoken about it in the last few weeks, we had always thought we would want to include Dane if we could," Collingwood football manager Geoff Walsh told SEN on Wednesday night.

"He is happy and comfortable about going and we think it will be beneficial for him and for the other guys.

"It will be very heavily orientated toward football training, but it will be conducted at altitude, which will be a big plus."

It has been reported that Swan is carrying a quad injury in recent weeks but faced West Coast at the MCG on Sunday despite speculation he was poised to miss.

Walsh said the players would complete drills similar to the ones they would do in Melbourne in the middle of the season, only with the benefits of altitude.

The Magpies are familiar with the positives of altitude training, having held pre-season training camps in Arizona in recent years.
 
Last week, coach Mick Malthouse said defender Nathan Brown - who had a knee reconstruction in the pre-season but has recently been revealed as working towards a late season return - would be a player to benefit from such a trip.

"Nathan Brown is a classic case because he hasn't played," he said, at his weekly press conference before the Eagles' game.

"He would be in a prime position to gain something from it because we believe there are benefits.

"Is it achievable taking key people away from the organisation for five or six days between byes and the next game and who would go? There is a lot of stuff to be discussed."

Walsh said Swan would be the only player who would miss a game because of the trip.

"Three of the four players are players who are not playing and cannot play at the moment [will go]," he said.

Ruckman Darren Jolly has been touted as another player considered to embark on the trip as he works his way back from a minor knee operation completed after the Anzac Day clash with Essendon.