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COLLINGWOOD expects Ben Reid and Darren Jolly to face Geelong in Saturday's Grand Final after both trained strongly on Wednesday at Gosch's Paddock.
 
Defensive coach Scott Watters said he believed both players, who battled thigh and groin injuries respectively in Friday night's thrilling three-point win over Hawthorn, were part of the Pies' plans for Saturday at this stage.

"[Reid] was good, he did everything he was asked so we're really happy with where he's at and things are looking very positive," Watters said, after the hour-long session at Gosch's Paddock.

"We do [think he'll play] but it's Wednesday and we've got a few days before we have to make that decision but we're really happy with his progress and also Darren's as well.

"They got through really well."

Watters declined to specify the nature of Reid's injury other than to say it was concerned with his "lower body".

Jolly trained strongly and rucked against Cameron Wood, Leigh Brown and Anthony Rocca, and appeared uninhibited by the soreness that restricted his mobility against the Hawks.

"We're pretty buoyant with the way they got through," he said.

"You've got to give players time to see how they pull up the next morning, etcetera, and we'll do our due diligence over the next day or two but really positive signs today."

Opposition coach Nathan Buckley later said there had been more fears over Jolly's fitness for this weekend externally than internally.

He also said he expected either Reid or Jolly to replicate Simon Prestigiacomo's feat of 2010 when he pulled himself out of the first Grand Final on the eve of the game because of groin soreness should they decide later in the week they wouldn't be able to get through a game.

"They'll put their hand up, there's no doubt about it," he said.

"When you get selfless acts like that, it really does set the standards for the rest of the group and an expectation of selflessness."

Defender Chris Tarrant completed run throughs on his own while the rest of the team did end to end match practice, but Watters said it wasn't unusual for him to miss part of the session.  

Watters also said Tarrant's resilience over the past few weeks to play as well as he had when his father was battling a serious illness was remarkable.  

"It's the amazing thing. When you're associated intimately with your players, they've all got something they need to work through or a challenge that's in front of them, and Chris has had a really massive challenge over the last month or so," he said.

"He's a really private person, Chris, but there's a little honesty about everything he does around the club and the other players feed off that.

"He's battling some personal things outside and but I can't question what he does here, he's been outstanding."

He also backed Leon Davis to put in a strong performance on Saturday when he got his opportunity to atone for being left out of last year's victorious team.

Buckley said selection would be tough on Thursday afternoon with someone sure to be hit with a hard-luck story.

First-year forward Alex Fasolo, defender Tyson Goldsack and Cameron Wood are on the fringe of the side while Brent Macaffer, Simon Buckley and John McCarthy were among the "train-up" group that was out on Wednesday.

He said Dayne Beams was not an automatic exclusion despite his two-possession performance against Hawthorn that saw him subbed out for Alan Didak at three-quarter time.

"He got subbed out but he's not the first bloke to be subbed this year, and he'd be the first to admit that he wished he had performed better," he said.

"His form against Geelong was excellent so that comes into consideration and we'll take that into account before naming the team [Thursday] afternoon.

"We'll pick our best 22, as [Geelong] will, and there will be blokes that think they're in the best 22 that don't get a guernsey.

"We're very team orientated and the players understand that, and we've had a train up group over the last month that have been there in case, and they may well be the next bloke to come into the side."

Jennifer Witham covers Collingwood news for the AFL Website. Follow her on Twitter @AFL_JenWitham.