COLLINGWOOD's Chris Tarrant won't be rushed back to replace the injured Ben Reid this week, with the veteran defender to spend at least another week in the VFL. 

Reid will miss at least a fortnight after straining his quad against Geelong on Friday night.

While Tarrant looms as a logical replacement after his first game back in the VFL on the weekend, coach Nathan Buckley has already ruled him out of Saturday night's clash with Adelaide at AAMI Stadium.

"Taz isn't right to go. We'll give him a couple more runs [in the VFL] and a couple more full weeks of training before we pull the trigger on Taz," Buckley said.

Last week, Buckley admitted Tarrant could have used another week off before he played his first game for the year in round two, in which he lasted less than a quarter before injuring his calf.

Reid and Tarrant didn't attend Tuesday's recovery session at St Kilda Sea Baths, but the injured Dane Swan and Nathan Brown were there.

Swan will miss two weeks with a hamstring injury while Brown is expected back around round 10 after hurting his knee last week.

Reid has endured problems with both quads in recent times, and Buckley backed the club's medical staff to find out why.

"It's not the same leg and they're different injuries but it's obviously in a similar area. There might be a similar mechanism, they might be different," he said.

"We're still exploring all of what's going on. Clearly, we're dealing with finely tuned athletes and Reidy does a power of work and you couldn't question his professionalism to prepare himself to play.

"We back our team at the club to be able to find the solution and Reidy's professionalism to do the same."

Adelaide's midfield has been on song lately with Nathan van Berlo, Patrick Dangerfield, Scott Thompson and Rory Sloane playing key roles.

Buckley said he believed the Pies could match it with them despite the absence of Swan and Luke Ball. 

"We won't have a couple of our what you might have classed A-grade players at the beginning of the season but we believe Steele Sidebottom, Dayne Beams have stepped up, Sharrod Wellingham's playing an important role for us at the moment, and Jarryd Blair.

"They're to support Scott Pendlebury and Dale Thomas, so we've got a depth of talent there as well, and it's going to be two bulls butting heads and I think it will be a fairly tight contest."

Jennifer Witham is a reporter for AFL Media. Follow her on Twitter @AFL_JenWitham.