Veteran defender Shane Wakelin says Collingwood can't afford to be too conscious of Hawthorn forward Lance Franklin when the teams clash on Saturday at the MCG.

Franklin may be coming off his worst display of the season, having kicked a wasteful 1.7 in Sunday's 12-point win over Richmond, but Wakelin knows that just shutting him down won't guarantee the Magpies prevent the Hawks kicking a winning score.

"He's one of six very important players in their forward line … as we saw last week Jarryd Roughead really stood up and kicked five and we know (Mark) Williams has been a consistent goal-kicker over a long period of time," Wakelin said on Tuesday.

"They've got more than one string to their bow."

Set for his 239th AFL game on Saturday which will bring up a combined tally of 500 matches between he and his twin brother Darryl, who played 261 matches with St Kilda and Port Adelaide, Wakelin doesn't expect coach Mick Malthouse to hand him the tough job on the man they call Buddy.

"I wouldn't think so no," he said with a laugh. "But you never say never. I actually played on Buddy in his first year when he was quite raw and only a young and experienced lad, which was enjoyable."

Satisfied by the milestone, which he believes 'reflects his longevity' and 'ability to persevere' at the top level, Wakelin hopes both skipper Scott Burns and key forward Anthony Rocca are ready to return.

Burns has missed the past three matches with a calf injury, putting on hold his 250th appearance for the Magpies, and Wakelin isn't overly confident that his fellow South Australian will be back.

"All the signs are pretty positive," he said. "It's a difficult thing, he obviously did one at the start of pre-season so he'll be quite conservative with it I would imagine and so will the physios and doctors."

"We're confident he will but then I suppose there's a week break afterwards and it gives you an opportunity to freshen up on that particular week as well. He knows his body better than anyone so he'll make the decision at the end of the week."

Rocca meanwhile was ruled out of last Friday's Anzac Day win over Essendon by an ankle injury, and Wakelin is more confident one of the team's key players will return.

"We're pretty positive about Anthony," he said. "He's still got three or four days to get up