Collingwood coach Nathan Buckley admits the Magpies might have rushed Chris Tarrant’s AFL comeback earlier this season.
Tarrant returned from a foot injury for the round-two game against Richmond, but only lasted a quarter before he limped off with a fresh calf muscle problem.
It was another setback as the Magpies coped with a string of early-season injuries.
Tarrant will return through the VFL this weekend.
“He had a really bad ‘cork’, the last training session before he came into that game,” Buckley said.
“So in hindsight, perhaps we could have … left it another week last time.
“But it is what it is and ‘Taz’ is up and about.”
Tarrant has had three solid weeks of training, more than before his round-two return.
The upside of Collingwood’s injury problems over the past few months is that the Magpies have given several younger players plenty of senior experience and Buckley is pleased with the results.
“Going into last week, only GWS had played more players than we had so, yes, we have exposed our depth in some ways,” he said.
“I’d say you wouldn’t be disappointed in seeing some of the roles that some of the young players have been able to come up and play for us when required.
“Our most experienced side this year was in round three against Carlton and that was also our most disappointing performance.
“You can get carried away a little bit with experience, with a good side on paper.”
Andrew Krakouer and Brent Macaffer ran laps at Thursday training as they recover from their pre-season knee reconstructions.
Star midfielder Luke Ball is also recovering from major knee surgery, while Ben Johnson has had a shoulder reconstruction.
Buckley said the club’s attitude to those four injuries is that they will probably not play again this season, but the Magpies are also not ruling out a speedy comeback.
“You hope for the best – you plan for the likely scenario,” he said.
“We certainly hope they can beat the odds.”