COLLINGWOOD has been dealt a double blow, with star midfielder Dayne Beams ruled out for up to another month, while ruckman Darren Jolly has been ruled out of Saturday's MCG blockbuster against Richmond.
Beams, the 2012 best and fairest, aggravated a quad injury and will be on the sidelines for another three to four weeks.
Beams had a run on the weekend in a bid to re-enter the selection fray, but pulled up sore.
"It's a bit of a re-bleed," coach Nathan Buckley said on Wednesday.
"There was one session he didn't respond particularly well and it just signals to us that it was more significant than we originally thought."
"It is frustrating. The last thing you want to hear when you walk into a medical meeting is to hear that one of your players is three to four more weeks away than you had anticipated before you walk in the door.
"'Beamsy' is incredibly frustrated by it; The medicos are working hard to get him up to speed, but at the same time, there's no use pushing a player up if he's only 85 per cent fit."
Jolly suffered rib cartilage damage a fortnight ago against Carlton and missed last week's loss to Hawthorn.
He trained briefly on Wednesday morning at the club's training session but the decision was made by Buckley pretty quickly to leave him out, perhaps with a view to saving him for the Anzac Day clash with Essendon just five days later.
Mitigating Jolly's absence is the good form of Ben Hudson in his first game for the club last weekend. "Ben's performance was excellent on the weekend," Buckley said at the Westpac Centre on Wednesday.
Buckley said defender Ben Reid had pulled up well after jarring his knee against the Hawks last week but will play.
Andrew Krakouer and Alan Didak have been in encouraging form for the Magpies in the VFL and while a recall against Richmond is unlikely they may also be in the selection frame for Anzac Day.
Buckley said the entire focus at selection would be on the Richmond game this weekend, but that the club was mindful of the need to back up five days later against the Bombers.
"It is folly to suggest that in any given week that you're not considering what's come before or what's coming after it. The vagaries of the draw every year have us playing Essendon in the middle of the week on Anzac Day."
