A RETURN to senior football for Magpie Anthony Rocca is not out of the question, according to coach Mick Malthouse.

The Collingwood forward has not played since round seven and, despite the club winning 13 of its last 14 matches without him, Malthouse indicated on Tuesday that Rocca may yet play a part in the Pies' finals campaign.

“[We] have not shut the book on anyone,” Malthouse said from the Lexus Centre.

“It's horses for courses. Form is important, who we play obviously is very important and you've got to keep the pressure on the opposition.

“Can the player do that? In Anthony's case, yes he can.”

A host of stars – including Josh Fraser, Dane Swan, Alan Didak, Leon Davis, Heath Shaw, Dale Thomas, Paul Medhurst and Harry O'Brien – missed Tuesday morning’s brief session at Gosch's Paddock.

But Malthouse said it was too early in the week to read anything into their absence.

“We rotate those players right through. It’s a long season … I mentioned some time ago it’s a 5000m race all of a sudden,” he said.

“Now we’re down to a 1500m steeplechase. Let’s get over this one, then we start to almost get to the [Usain] Bolt stage.”

Fraser played his first game in six weeks on Sunday when the Pies accounted for the Sydney Swans.

The coach said his big man’s knee was “no trouble at all” while he was also content with the ruck pairing of Fraser and youngster Cameron Wood.

While saying two specialist ruckmen was not a prerequisite for September success, Malthouse appears likely to continue with the duo for at least one more week.

“I thought they had their moments [on Sunday], but there were far more pluses than minuses,” he said.

The veteran coach was hesitant to rate just how well his Collingwood team of 2009 was placed for a run at the flag when compared with previous finals campaigns.

But, just a week out from the business end of the season, he is in the enviable position of having almost a full list from which to choose.

“There are certain finals series you go in thinking you’d like a couple more up and there’s others that you think, ‘yeah we’re not too bad’,” he said.

“[We’ve got] 44, 45 players ready to play. You can’t be any more prepared.

“Right now we’ve got a lot of players to pick from, two sides are in the finals [and] key players that have been out are now back playing.”