Collingwood star Jamie Elliott's AFL return remains at least a fortnight away as he continues to recover from an ankle injury.
The small forward has begun an intensive rehabilitation period after spending the past two weeks in a moon boot, having injured himself during the Magpies' round-11 win over Fremantle.
Elliott had been the Pies' best-performed forward but won't be available again until at least round 16, when they host Essendon at the MCG.
"He's still quite sore on the medial side of his ankle," Magpies football boss Geoff Walsh said on Wednesday.
"I would expect that's probably two weeks of intensive rehab so we wouldn't have him available until after the (round 15) Hawthorn game and, from there, we'll see how he goes."
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In better news for the Magpies, premiership duo Ben Reid and Tyson Goldsack could return for Saturday's clash with Port Adelaide.
Key defender Reid is almost certain to come back from a quad injury, while Goldsack (shoulder) must pass a fitness test and train strongly to be considered.
The Pies remain unsure when midfielder Daniel Wells will return, with the club carefully managing his latest hamstring complaint.
"He's running now, and we'll be treating that calf symptomatically and gradually building up his load," Walsh said.
"Because of the nature of the injury, he'll be a bit of a week-by-week assessment."
