Collingwood guns Taylor Adams, Brayden Maynard and Nick Daicos are in doubt for their blockbuster AFL clash with Richmond after falling ill.
The important trio missed training on Thursday with what coach Craig McRae described as "man flu".
"We've got the man flu still going on," Macrae said.
"It's gone through us last week and there's a little bit of carryover this week. So we've got two or three (who have) still got the flu."
"It flowed all week and then it tipped over to the weekend.
"Credit to a lot of players, they played unwell and played with great spirits, still unwell and unfortunately there's some carried over to early this week as well."
Last week, Jordan De Goey and Will Hoskin-Elliott overcame gastro to face Gold Coast and Macrae planned to give Maynard, Adams and Daicos every chance to recover for Saturday's clash at the MCG.
McRae didn't plan to use the illness as an opportunity to rest young gun Daicos.
"I hope not. We want our young players to get opportunities to keep playing when they can," he said.
"He's not in today. Let's see how he is in the next 24-48 hours."
Maynard often matches up with Dustin Martin, who will be making his AFL return after missing six games through personal reasons.
"I'm pumped," McRae said.
"You have certain things in place for Dusty but clearly he's an elite player.
"It's actually good to see him back to be honest.
"In my time at Richmond I really enjoyed coaching with Dusty and you only want the best for players like him and hopefully he's well."
Meanwhile, McRae said he was happy to set a standard with youngster Jack Ginnivan.
The 19-year-old was reminded of Collingwood's standards by senior players after celebrating his Anzac Day game heroics by going out for drinks with friends, six days before facing Gold Coast.
For recovery reasons, Collingwood players don't drink when there is a short turnaround between games.
"We want standards. We're not going to shy away from trying to create standards and habits," McRae said.
"We want to be winners. If you want to act like a winner, well that's the behaviours we want to do.
"This is not about Jack, this is about our whole group.
"We've been consistent right from when I first stepped in this role that we're going to act like winners and there's many, many, many conversations we've had, not just with Jack, around acting like winners."
