THE Belconnen Magpies backmen can breathe a little easier. Despite initial concerns, Barry Hall won't be heading to Canberra with the reserves for Saturday's semi-final clash at Manuka Oval. If he goes anywhere, it will be to Melbourne for the elimination final against the Collingwood Magpies.

With Hall on the sideline nursing an injured hamstring last weekend, his fellow forwards worked like a Swiss timepiece, kicking 22 goals in the win over Hawthorn. "I didn't know whether I was booking my flight for Canberra or going down to Melbourne," Hall said yesterday. "I still have to wait until match committee tomorrow."

His coach, Paul Roos, assured Hall the only Magpies he would be facing on Saturday were the Collingwood variety - but whether his hamstring is ready for a return won't be determined until after tomorrow night's training sessions. Both Hall and injured defender Tadhg Kennelly will be named but must negotiate training successfully to make the flight to Melbourne.

It is the third time this season Hall has taken a week off to rest an injury, and he feels the break has helped. "I feel really good," Hall said. "I suppose last week it was a pretty sensible decision to sit out. Although the result was important for us going into a final series, the ladder position wasn't an issue. So I'll train Thursday and hopefully all goes well and I'll run out [on Saturday].

"I suppose nothing is 100 per cent. We've done it before [taken the week off] and it's responded really well, so there's an air of confidence there, but nothing is 100 per cent."

Taking weeks off has helped the team, as well as Hall. He missed the round-13 clash with Geelong and the round-16 match against West Coast, and on both occasions the Swans not only won the following week but Hall and his teammates played well.

"When Hally comes back in, we don't seem to be as Hally-conscious the next week," Roos said. "I think that's the real bonus for us this week. We get a quality player coming back into our team, the players have played the week before without him, it's a double bonus for us. It makes us less predictable."

Hall conceded the Swans had been disappointing in their two matches against Collingwood this season. "We respect them. They are a hard, contested-footy team and that's how we like to play our footy," Hall said.

"From our point of view, we know why we win or lose - and we know why we lost against Collingwood last time. It's pretty black and white."