Sylvia was admitted to hospital immediately after last Saturday’s loss to Carlton because of severe pain in his right big toe.
Tests revealed a clot in the main artery at the top of the toe and he will be released on Thursday afternoon.
Melbourne coach Dean Bailey says Sylvia remains in the mix to play against the Magpies even though his preparation has been severely interrupted.
“We’ll see how he is. He’s been in hospital for a few days now and we’ll see whether he has lost any weight or conditioning over three days. Because it’s a Monday game it probably gives him a chance to train on Friday and Sunday to see how he is,” Bailey said on Thursday morning.
“It’s a very unusual situation we find ourselves in. All the medical opinion is that he’s fine to train on Friday and we’ll see how he pulls up after that. If there’s any soreness or concern after training then he won’t play.”
Bailey said Sylvia had played the past few games with discomfort in the toe but the Demons’ medical staff intervened after it got progressively worse.
“He’s had it for a few weeks but he’s been able to manage it and train. It’s not as if he hasn’t trained because of it. He’s been training and playing with it but it got to a stage where our doctors decided we can’t go on the way it is.
“Col certainly complained about being sorer than normal so they said we better not take any chances and put him in to see what he’s actually got.”
Defender James Frawley is expected to return from the back injury that sidelined him last week while Bailey rated Nathan Jones and skipper James McDonald as 50-50 chances to recover from hamstring injuries in time for Monday.
The Queen’s Birthday clash is likely to draw the largest crowd Melbourne will play in front of for the season and Bailey said while the blockbuster experience will be invaluable for his young side, there is still an expectation on them to perform.
“It’s invaluable in the sense of the atmosphere, the build-up and the occasion if you like.
"[But] you want to be productive in those big games rather than just rolling through the game at the end of it and saying gee wasn’t that good. We expect a little more than just the experience. We certainly expect our pressure to be there from the start.”
