Collingwood coach Mick Malthouse believes his AFL side has reached an important turning point in its development ahead of their clash with Melbourne on Saturday at the MCG.

Malthouse is confident the Magpies have found a group of mid-range players taking the next step in consistency, providing much-needed depth and competition for places.

Several of those players - most notably last season's midfield revelation Dayne Beams - can't crack the senior side at the moment.

The Magpies franked their premiership credentials with a superb season-opening win over the Western Bulldogs last weekend - raising hopes they can go a step better than their preliminary final exit in 2009.

"You need to be able to call upon your 30th player to perform the same action as your 20th, and if you can't you fall away," Malthouse said.

"When Beams, (Nathan) Brown and (Chris) Dawes' time is called upon, we expect them to come into the side and perform at that level which doesn't see the side fall away."

Malthouse said Collingwood's ability to also beef up their side via the addition of experienced ruckman Darren Jolly and ex-St Kilda midfielder Luke Ball had provided a lift along with the mid-range players' development.

"Players like Harry O'Brien, (Scott) Pendlebury, (Dale) Thomas - that age group (last year) you can almost make a reason for them not performing well - they're young, inexperienced.

"There's a tipping point in time when they get on the other side of that line and you say the consistency level's got to be high all the time.

"They have gone from a young recruit to a young man to a player with 50 to 100 games under their belt.

"The expectations of this football club and this playing group is they must perform at a higher level. Ball and Jolly add to it."

The Pies have lost experienced defender Simon Prestigiacomo with a quadriceps injury - Malthouse suggesting he may miss two matches after picking up the knock last weekend.

Ben Reid slots in as his replacement.

Melbourne, who were abysmal in a heavy opening round loss to Hawthorn last weekend, have dumped inconsistent forward Brad Miller and lost defender Jared Rivers with a knee injury.

Michael Newton comes in for Miller, while Queensland product Rohan Bail comes into the 22 for Rivers.

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