COLLINGWOOD coach Mick Malthouse says Simon Prestigiacomo, his side's only exclusion for Saturday's clash with Melbourne, is no certainty to play next week either with the veteran defender battling a quad injury.
The Magpies host the under-pressure Demons at the MCG in round two with key position prospect Ben Reid promoted to replace Prestigiacomo.
Malthouse refuted suggestions that the 32-year-old might have been risked against stronger opposition by confirming he could miss the round-three clash with St Kilda.
"We're not here to rest people, we're here to win games of football," he said after training on Friday morning.
"There's no guarantee he'll play next week. He pulled up sore from the game (last week).
"[With a] six-day turnaround, it doesn’t give you a lot of chance to get things right."
Reid comes into the side on the back of solid pre-season form and was selected ahead of Nathan Brown, who remains on the cusp.
Stuck on the emergency list is second-year midfielder Dayne Beams.
Beams looks set to play VFL football again this weekend after first being dropped for breaking a curfew last month.
However, Malthouse is backing the promising 20-year-old to make a speedy return to senior football.
"You serve the penalty and the penalty sometimes becomes harsher with performance," Malthouse said.
"The week he missed I think was against Port and the boys performed pretty well, so they set themselves up for the first game. Last week the boys played pretty well.
"So it just doesn't pay to miss. But believe me, it was only a one-week penalty of not playing at senior level.
"Beamsy's fully aware of what's going on. He's a young man who's still learning to be fully professional like most young kids are.
"He did nothing wrong as far as society goes. It's just that we have certain rules and regulations and he just erred on one of them, but nothing over the top."
After an impressive first-up win over NAB Cup premier the Western Bulldogs, Malthouse has insisted Collingwood won't underestimate a Melbourne side that has copped its share of criticism after a disappointing round-one loss.
"We are a side that has a reasonable amount of maturity now," he said.
"Our number of average games played is quite significant, so therefore the boys have been through these sorts of games … and playing sides that build themselves up. And it's been said by Melbourne before [that] this is their grand final - they love to play against Collingwood.
"We know that we're in for a big game and we mention that to the players and the players are very much aware of the fact that Melbourne, for one reason or another, want to play and enjoy playing against Collingwood.
"We've got to respect our opposition regardless of ladder positions."
