Collingwood have suffered an injury blow ahead of their AFL qualifying final against West Coast, with key defender Ben Reid highly unlikely to play.

Reid did not train on Friday and assistant coach Scott Watters later said the backman had suffered a groin injury.

Magpies coach Mick Malthouse is usually reticent to risk a player if he has not taken part in training the day before a match.

"Ben's probably unlikely at this stage, we'll give him every opportunity to come up, so we'll take him right up to the death knell," Watters said.

"We're hoping he'll be right.

"It's a minor tweak of the groin - it's nothing major, but it's something we have to monitor over the next day and we'll see how he goes."

Reid has enjoyed an outstanding season and is in the initial All-Australian squad.

The Collingwood defence has struggled with personnel problems in the last few weeks.

Key defender Chris Tarrant hurt his ankle in last Friday night's massive loss to Geelong, but will play against the Eagles.

Captain Nick Maxwell (thumb), Leon Davis (hamstring) and Heath Shaw (suspension) are returning to the defence for Saturday's game.

"You've seen our backline this year, in particular, has had some ins and outs ... it's coped with that intermittent preparation," Watters said.

"We have players who can play tall down there and cover that loss."

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