COLLINGWOOD onballer Dane Swan will take a niggling thigh injury into Sunday's game against West Coast, but Pies coach Mick Malthouse says that scenario is the norm rather than the exception in today's AFL.

Malthouse admitted the prolific midfielder had been hobbled in recent weeks, but said that made him no different to the majority of AFL players who were feeling the strain on a weekly basis as clubs pushed to find a winning edge.

"Dane is probably like seven or eight players [in our team] who can play but are slightly restricted," Malthouse said on Thursday.

"I think the attrition rate these days in AFL football is far greater than what's reported.

"You don't report every bump and bruise that players carry and it's generally only the ones that we have to report when a player's out that you recognise in the media, but players continually play and carry some form of injury.

"If you can get through a season and feel really good about yourself, I think you're in the minority. Players who can play but are restricted will be in the majority, then there are those that play when they shouldn't.

"At our football club, we will not play players, under any circumstances, who aren't able to play regardless of how important the game is or who we're playing."

Swan, 27, appeared to struggle with the injury on his way to a season-low 21 possessions in the win over Adelaide at Etihad Stadium last week.

Malthouse said the intensity of the game had risen to unprecedented levels on the basis of anecdotal evidence he had received from fellow AFL coaches, and he used Swan's situation to take a thinly-veiled swipe at the AFL's new interchange rules.

"I don't think people outside of club football, and you don't have to be too bright to work out who I'm talking about, have taken into account that club football is going to go the next step and then the next," he said.

"They will not stop because of rule changes … they will keep striving to get their athletes bigger, better, faster, stronger and more intense."

The Pies will be put through their main training session on Thursday, but Swan, Alan Toovey (ribs), Ben Johnson (back) and Leigh Brown (calf) will be given until Saturday to prove their fitness for the West Coast match.

Swan was named in a Herald Sun report on Thursday as a possible inclusion in a mid-year touring party to the high-altitude facility in Arizona the club uses as part of its pre-season preparation each year.

Malthouse said the idea of freshening up certain players struggling with injury ahead of an assault on the finals was a good idea in theory, but would be difficult to make happen in reality.  

"If you had an extended break midway through the year and you had the finances … we've got a strict budget," he said.

"It's subject to player availability, do we want to do it, costs, impact on the team, impact on the individual … so there's a lot of water to go under the bridge before we say who will go and [even if] we will do it."

Both teams carry imposing form into Sunday's clash. The Eagles are coming off a 123-point thrashing of the Western Bulldogs, while Collingwood overcame a sluggish start to storm to a 43-point victory over Adelaide.

The Pies piled on 11 goals in a stunning final term against the Crows, but Malthouse said it was the first three quarters of the match when Adelaide had his team's measure that had formed the basis of his review.