With his side’s round one clash with Adelaide a little more than a fortnight away, Malthouse was thinking bigger picture despite the lure of adding some valuable silverware to the Lexus Centre cabinets.
The Magpie coach said both players had been sore in recent days and, with others impressing, his team could afford to rest the pair.
“He’s [Fraser’s] a bit sore and he’s not playing,” Malthouse declared on Thursday.
“Our philosophy right through this series has been anyone who can’t get through a match or anyone who even remotely looks like they can’t get through a match [won’t play].
“Because our list is quite fit [our goal] was to play players that have got that fitness base.
“So Josh and Heath have not been selected and they’ll do their work off the ground.”
When pressed on Shaw’s injury – there is speculation the running defender is carrying a back complaint – the coach was reluctant to comment. Malthouse was also evasive about Shaw’s chances of facing the Crows in round one.
“I don’t look too far further than this weekend. We’ll just see how everyone comes up [before round one],” Malthouse said.
“It’ll be the same principle though; we’ll be picking players who are fit,”
While Malthouse said promising forward Sean Rusling was about a week away from resuming, there is good news for Collingwood with Paul Medhurst picked to play in Friday night’s pre-season decider against the Cats.
Skipper Nick Maxwell, running defender Ben Johnson, Chris Dawes, John McCarthy and Sharrod Wellingham have also been recalled for the Magpies.
Dream Team watch – Collingwood’s Heath Shaw is rated a $363,300 defender in Toyota AFL Dream Team 2009.
