Collingwood midfielder Dale Thomas will not play again this season after re-injuring his right ankle in the VFL last Saturday.

The 2011 All-Australian is to visit specialists in Sydney and Melbourne over the next week to determine what his immediate prospects are, with further surgery one of several possibilities.

Playing for the first time since he last appeared at AFL level, against Fremantle in round seven, Thomas left the field in the second term of Saturday’s match with a fresh injury to the ankle that required surgery in May.

View Collingwood's full injury list here.

Collingwood interim Director of Football, Rodney Eade, said Thomas’ belated bid to figure in September was over and that the focus of player and club is now to make sure of a full and lasting recovery.

“It’s obviously disappointing for everyone. Dale worked incredibly hard to play again this year and everyone was enthused to see him get close,” Eade said.

“He felt strong and confident and to see him brought down again is a reminder of how tough the game can be at times. Right now, we know that the rest of 2013 is out. He is going to see several specialists over the next week or so and in terms of what, if any, impact there will be on his pre-season we will have to wait and see.

“A clearer picture of what the options are will emerge once he has been examined.”

Thomas has endured a wretched 14 months. He had surgery in November last year to repair ankle ligaments he injured in round 15 of the 2012 campaign. A comeback in round three of this season was brought to a halt five weeks later when surgery was required to repair a tendon injury unrelated to the earlier issue. Nonetheless, he set himself for an eleventh hour comeback and looked likely to feature in Collingwood’s imminent finals campaign when he was declared fit to resume in the VFL last week.

In other injury news, Jamie Elliott and Ben Sinclair will miss this week’s match against West Coast at the MCG on Friday night.

Sinclair, who has impressively reinvented himself as a defender in the second half of the year, hurt a shoulder in the early minutes of the match against Hawthorn last Friday night while Elliott came from the field late in the same match due to hamstring tightness. Both players are expected to vie for selection in the final home and away match of the season, against North Melbourne on Sunday, September 1.

View Collingwood's full injury list here.