Melbourne midfielder Colin Sylvia is confident he will not need surgery for the unusual foot injury that has him in doubt for Monday's AFL clash.

Sylvia was in hospital for six days for treatment on the blood clot in his right foot, but will try to prove his fitness at Friday's training session ahead of the MCG match against Collingwood.

He fronted the media on Thursday afternoon still attached to an intravenous drip, which was mounted on a trolley.

"I'm very itchy - very itchy - I'm getting cold feet, the walls are starting to cave in," Sylvia said of his hospital stay.

"I've been here too long.

"In the long run, if I kept going, at that stage there was no blood flow going through - the toe could have possibly died.

"No surgery at all, all I've had is this nice trolley here for the last three days, hanging onto me closely, showering with it.

"I've got to know it well."

Melbourne coach Dean Bailey said Sylvia had managed to train and play for a few weeks with pain in the foot, but it became too severe during Saturday's loss to Carlton.

The holiday Monday game will give Sylvia extra time to prove his fitness.

"It's a very unusual situation we find ourselves in ... the surgeon's and the medical opinion is he's fine to train on Friday and see how he pulls up," Bailey said.

Melbourne will definitely be without captain James McDonald, who is out with a hamstring injury in a major blow to the Demons.

Bailey added midfielder Nathan Jones is a "50-50" chance as he also tries to recover from a hamstring problem.

But defender James Frawley is expected to return after a back spasm forced him to withdraw from last Saturday's side.

Bailey also expects key forward Jack Watts to play, despite his poor outing in the wet against the Blues.

Watts made his debut in the Queen's Birthday match against Collingwood last year and the Magpies defence made a point of putting intense physical pressure on him.

"He'd be in consideration, the big bloke last week struggled a bit in the sense of just the conditions," Bailey said.

"But all big blokes, once they play in those conditions a little bit more often, they get used to it."

Bailey is unconcerned about talk of players such as Watts and Aaron Davey being targeted for physical attention, saying it is part of the game.

He is more focussed on his team being able to set the agenda against Collingwood.

"We need to get on the front foot on Monday, we need to make things happen in the game - that's when we play our best footy," he said.

The Demons were outstanding against Collingwood in round two, losing by only one point.

The Queen's Birthday clash on Monday will be a rare big occasion match for the Demons, but Bailey is looking at the clash as much more than just some good experience for his developing side.

"You want to be productive in those big games rather than just rolling through the game and at the end of it saying `gee, wasn't that good?'," Bailey said.

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