ADAM Treloar could be a shock inclusion for Collingwood's qualifying final side, with Magpies coach Nathan Buckley saying the midfielder has made giant strides in his recovery from injury.
Treloar has been out since round 14 with a serious hamstring injury but has ramped up his work in recent weeks and is sure he'll play sometime during the finals, particularly now the Pies have earned the double chance.
"The most important thing is what the player thinks. He is absolutely convinced that he's going to come in and have an impact for us," Buckley said after the Pies sealed their top-four spot with a gutsy nine-point win over Fremantle at Optus Stadium on Saturday.
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"I don't know when categorically he thinks it's going to happen but it's going to happen."
Buckley said Treloar's recent improvement had been rapid.
"His training form has been pretty good for the past couple of weeks. He's taken real strong strides forward. I think I called him a Hail Mary opportunity … even last week. But he's starting to get into the realms of possibility.
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"Definitely in his own mind he's convinced that he will be up for us in the next few weeks.
"Whether that's two weeks or three weeks or four weeks we can't be clear and we can't be definitive at this point."
A three-goal second-half from Brody Mihocek and superb four-quarter performances from Steele Sidebottom and Scott Pendlebury were crucial to the Pies overcoming the Dockers.
WATCH Nathan Buckley's full post-match press conference
And now they have sealed their top-four spot, Buckley says nothing can stop them progressing through September.
"We think our best footy stacks up and we are not afraid of anyone we're going to play," Buckley said.
"It's either Richmond, Hawthorn or West Coast in the mix for our first final.
"We definitely won't be approaching that with anything but full confidence that we can get the job done.
"We have attacked and been aggressive and chased our best form, improved football, the opposition - all season. So, we're not going to stop now."
Two other positives out of the victory in Perth were that they got a look at Optus Stadium, where they may have to return and face West Coast in the finals, and they got a tough game against a determined Dockers side to lead in to finals.
"You want to look after your own destiny as much as you can and we've had a really strong home and away season," Buckley said.
"We would have liked to have performed better but it was mature in that we would have at some time today, everyone, would have had a thought come into their head 'what if we don't get over the line here?' … then go down half way through the last quarter and then find the kind of football we needed to just to grind the win out was real maturity.
"Fremantle's record on this ground outside the derbies is 7-3.
"It's early stages in the history of this venue but there's a legitimate home ground advantage here.
"We did well to deal with that and they were a side that were clearly challenged by their performance last week."
Buckley said the Magpies were far from their best but a game at Optus Stadium was a bonus.
"If that occurs (playing West Coast in Perth during the finals) then it's invaluable to have a run on the ground and get the sense of it," Buckley said.
"I think a day game and night game will be different again but the dimensions, the stands and the feel of the place I think that's about it for us.
"I don't think we played great footy, we were out of shape for a lot of the day.
"To be able to win a game when we didn't really think we were in sync or connecting that well in our offence or our defence, I don't know how much we'll take out of that other than that's not the way we wanted to play."
