Hawthorn star Lance Franklin trained at the MCG on Thursday as he

appeared to put his latest mishap in this AFL finals series behind him.

Coach

Alastair Clarkson said Franklin had overcome a stomach bug that had put

the key forward into quarantine away from his teammates earlier this

week.

Last week, Franklin overcame the knee injury he had

suffered in the qualifying final loss to Geelong to kick four goals in

the semi-final win over Sydney.

“It was only a slight stomach bug, he was a bit crook for 24 hours,” Clarkson said.

“He gave the toilet bowl a spray a couple of times.

“He’s as good as gold and he trained yesterday, just had a bit of a run around.”

The

bigger issue for Clarkson and the Hawks has been Franklin’s ability to

come up from his injury in the opening week of the finals.

He suffered bone bruising in a knee against the Cats.

“That’s

been over-played a little bit – he had bone bruising, but it was

nowhere near the significance which was perhaps reported in the press,”

Clarkson said.

“Probably the most significant thing for us was

his preparation was just so severely hampered last week – he had to work

really hard to get himself up.

“He couldn’t do his normal

training load or preparation and for him to still make a contribution in

what was a pretty awkward situation for him, speaks volumes for the way

he prepared and got himself right mentally.”

Collingwood regained All Australians Ben Reid, from a groin injury, and

Dale Thomas, from suspension. Defender Tyson Goldsack and forward Alex Fasolo were the two players to make way, as expected.

In the other preliminary final between Geelong and West Coast, the Cats’ two-time best and fairest winner Joel Corey will return from

injury.

Corey has been sidelined by a groin injury since round 21.

He

replaced Daniel Menzel, who ruptured an anterior cruciate ligament in the Cats’ qualifying win over Hawthorn, in what was Geelong’s

only change.

Veterans Darren Milburn and Cameron Mooney were again overlooked.

The Eagles stuck with the same 22 that downed Carlton by three points in last weekend’s semi-final.

There

had been minor injury concerns over Josh Kennedy, Mark LeCras, Beau

Waters and Eric Mackenzie, but West Coast named all four.