COLLINGWOOD will prepare to fly west this week for its final-round encounter with Fremantle without skipper Scott Burns after the veteran sustained a calf injury on Saturday night at Telstra Dome.
Burns, 33, sat out the fourth quarter of the Magpies' 45-point win over the Sydney Swans after suffering the injury, and was heavily strapped in the rooms after the game.
The Pies will travel to Perth on Thursday to meet Fremantle at Subiaco on Friday night.
"Six-day break … touch and go, I suppose," coach Mick Malthouse said after the game.
"I am not about to get involved in how bad or not bad or incidental it is. It's simply a bruised calf, it will be judged tomorrow morning, and then it will be judged during the week.
Malthouse said he was unsure if goalsneak Dale Thomas would be right to play on Friday after missing Saturday's game with a knee injury.
"Until I talk to the medical staff during the week, he's another one I'm not too sure about," he said.
Anthony Rocca will be considered for the trip if he passes a fitness test this week, after Malthouse said it would be "silly not to play him" in the seniors ahead of the Pies' finals campaign if he was fully recovered from the ankle injury he sustained in round 13.
"If he's available, we'll play him. I can't say he's available," he said.
"All I know is that last week, the medical staff seemed to be very pleased with him and Anthony has got a lot of confidence.
"If he's ready to play, we'll play him, and if he's not, we won't.
"Who we play and where we are on the ladder has a significance, because we're not going to expose players who aren't right, but if it's an Anthony Rocca who's coming off a long-term injury and he's available to play, you'd be pretty silly not to.
"He can just as easily get his match practice through this game, regardless of who we play. It's always better for blokes like him to play at the higher level.
Young defender Nathan Brown was a late withdrawal from the Magpies' side on Saturday night with what Malthouse described as general soreness.
