Collingwood are leaning towards rolling the dice on the fitness of Chris Dawes and Alan Didak in Friday night’s AFL preliminary final against Sydney.
The Magpies are optimistic the pair will be ready after they suffered injuries in Saturday night’s 13-point semi-final win over West Coast.
Didak was subbed off at three-quarter time with a calf muscle problem and Dawes hurt the medial ligament in his right knee.
Dawes returned to the field in the last quarter, but he could not change direction when trying to run at pace and he returned to the bench.
“The doctors looked at them this morning and will assess them again tomorrow morning but at this stage there is confidence that both will come up,” Collingwood football manager Geoff Walsh said in a club statement on Sunday.
“There were no scans taken this morning and importantly both Chris and Alan are optimistic.
“It remains to be seen how the week unfolds for them, but right now we think they are a good chance to be on the plane.”
Dawes’ injury continues a rollercoaster few weeks for the ruck-forward – he was dropped for the round-23 win over Essendon, then recalled for the qualifying final loss to Hawthorn.
Didak was the substitute for the qualifying final, but started on Saturday night and was lively for the Magpies in the 10.13 (73) to 9.6 (60) win.
It was an emotional night for Collingwood as the club continues to mourn former player John McCarthy, who tragically died early last Monday while on an end-of-season trip in Las Vegas.
Several Collingwood players were in tears at the end of the match.
While the Magpies will only have a six-day break before playing the Swans, who have had the week off, they have strong grounds to back themselves for the ANZ Stadium clash.
Collingwood have won their past 11 games against Sydney, including seven at the ground.
Hawthorn will start strong favourites in the other preliminary final, a Saturday twilight match at the MCG against Adelaide.
As minor premiers, the Hawks should have had the right to play the Friday night game.
But ANZ Stadium was only available to the AFL on Friday, meaning the league had to compromise with its scheduling.
The Crows badly need the extra day’s break, given Jared Petrenko is also in a race against time to prove his fitness.
Petrenko hurt his right shoulder in the last minute of Friday night’s semi-final win over Fremantle at AAMI Stadium.
Sam Shaw (hamstring) will not play and with fellow young defender Daniel Talia (broken forearm) also out of action, Andy Otten could return to the side.
Otten has only played five senior games this season.
Taylor Walker starred with five goals as the Crows overcame a bad start to beat Fremantle by 10 points, 12.9 (81) to 11.5 (71).
