Collingwood have suffered a blow ahead of round one, with Jamie Elliott set to be sidelined for a month due to a nagging back injury that has plagued him for much of the pre-season.

Elliott will miss the opening round against the Swans and potential more due to the injury, which is known as Pars Defect.

โ€œWeโ€™ve decided weโ€™re going to take him out of the program for three or four weeks and ... let him settle,โ€ director of football Neil Balme told the club's website.

โ€œWeโ€™re pretty confident at that stage he should be right to go again.

โ€œWeโ€™re pretty optimistic that heโ€™ll have an impact for the rest of the season.

โ€œBut we canโ€™t say exactly when yet.โ€

Balme said that the injury is "similar but not the same" to the back issue that saw him miss a small amount of time last season.

The high flying forward kicked 35 goals in 20 games last season.

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