Collingwood's Dale Thomas and Dayne Beams ruled out for a large chunk of the season Dale Thomas could be out for up to four months with the Collingwood midfielder undergoing surgery on a ligament in his ankle. Mike Sheahan talks to Port Adelaide coach Gary Ayres about the emergence of Collingwood rookie Sam Dwyer. Dayne Beams will not play until at least the bye. COLLINGWOOD coach Nathan Buckley admits he has fears Dale Thomas wont play again this year. But he says today's ankle surgery will give the midfielder the best opportunity to get back to 100 per cent by the end of the home and away season. "There's massive reservations and fears about that (if he'll get back this year),"" Buckley said. But it is what it is. ..."It's the best opportunity that he has to get back to full fitness towards the end of the year. Rather than carrying a compromised player at 75 per cent fitness at best through the rest of the season, we're planning to be able to add to our playing stocks towards the end of the home and away with a 100 per cent fit player. "And then it's just a matter of how well he goes through the rehab and how well it recovers to what asset we have at the end of the year."" Fellow midfielder Dayne Beams won't be back until at least Round 14 from a quad injury. WATCH: On the Couch in the video player below On The Couch offers a weekly look at the news, views, drama and intrigue surrounding the AFL through the eyes of Gerard Healy, Mike Sheahan and Paul Roos. "I've been there myself, the way to find out about those injuries is you slowly ramp up the training,"" he said. You get to a point where you either break through or you fail. Beamsy's had probably three or four of those over the last sort of eight or nine weeks...We won't see him before the bye and we definitely hope we can get him up to speed this time around."" Collingwood football manager Geoff Walsh confirmed today Thomas was in hospital this morning after specialists decided surgery was the best option for the ankle he injured against Hawthorn in Round 3. While it is the same ankle he had surgery on in November, Walsh said it was a different injury. Walsh was optimistic Thomas would be back for Round 20, but conceded it was a 12 to 16 week recovery period, which makes his potential return date the second week of finals.