COLLINGWOOD coach Mick Malthouse says he won't hesitate to play three debutants together against Melbourne on Monday.
The Magpies have named half forward Luke Rounds, midfielder Alex Fasolo and half back Tom Young on the seven-man interchange bench that will be reduced on Sunday with Malthouse indicating all three could play.
The Pies have not played an AFL debutant this season with just Simon Buckley and Andrew Krakouer extending their AFL careers with their first games in the black and white.
However, the three emerging players could share their AFL debut on the big Queen's Birthday stage against the Demons.
"[Playing three debutants] has been done before. The good thing about them is they're all in form," he said on Friday.
"I'm a great believer in, if you're going to bring young players, they've got to be in form.
"Our VFL side is moderate, as far as its win-loss ratio goes, but one of the best things about it is when Tarkyn Lockyer comes in and presents his game analysis, we've always come up at least four and up to seven or eight players we think are capable of coming into the side."
Malthouse said Lachlan Keefe, who played in the NAB Cup competition, had been stiff to miss out on a senior debut to date but there had not been a requirement for another tall back, even when Nick Maxwell was out for the first two rounds.
He also said the potential triple-hit of debuts would go towards his overall goal of assembling a squad of around 30 players ready to play seniors at the business end of the season.
"The reality is, and history is the greatest teacher of all time, most of the time when you're relatively successful, and I'm talking about playing in finals and perhaps the final four, you use 32 to 34, 35 players," he said.
"If you're moderately successful, like the bottom four of the eight, you might go another two.
"Sides that finish outside that for one reason or another, whether it be bad luck with injuries or experimentation, use anything up to 40 players.
"Fortunately we're not in that position but we're very aware that you have to have quality numbers at the end of the season, ready to play football.
"I don't want to be in a position at the end of the year where I'm guessing about the form of players."
The Magpies will train on Friday morning and again on Sunday with the team to be finalised over the weekend.
The Demons are coming off an inspiring win against Essendon last Friday night that caused a huge outpouring of emotion after a week where their toughness was questioned.
Malthouse said he had no worries about he effect the Demons' post-match celebrations would have on the players and the Magpies were determined to match them for enthusiasm on what is a big day on the rival club's calendar.
"It's a spontaneous release and the thing that's scary for us is that it was celebrated by all who clearly had great admiration for each other, both the coaching side and playing side," he said.
"I think it was great to see, frankly.
"Sometimes it's better to get rid of that and then refocus."
Malthouse commended assistant coach Nathan Buckley's induction into the AFL Hall of Fame on Thursday night and said the club champion "fit very comfortably" amongst the pre-existing members.
The Collingwood coach will reach a milestone of his own this weekend when he becomes just the second person in the history of the game after Jock McHale (714 games) to coach 650 VFL/AFL matches.
He will also coach Collingwood for the 272nd time, which will move him into equal second place alongside Phonse Kyne on the all-time list of most matches coached at the club.
