Cooney and Higgins are both battling knee problems and didn't train on Wednesday, with coach Rodney Eade ruling them out of the weekend's action.
Dale Morris (groin) is rated a 50-50 chance to line up, despite also missing the session at Whitten Oval, and is likely to be given extra time to prove his fitness.
Nathan Djerrkura (Achilles) trained but Eade said he was unlikely to play while Barry Hall was absent from the hit-out owing to illness and a sore Tom Williams was kept indoors.
Both are expected to play.
Robert Murphy (groin) trained and will be assessed later in the week, as will Daniel Cross, who completed the session despite being knocked out against the Sydney Swans on Saturday.
Eade said Christian Howard, Jason Tutt, Ryan Hargrave and Justin Sherman were in the mix to come in as replacements for the injured players, while they would consider adding another ruckman - potentially Jordan Roughead - to the line up.
However, Hargrave has played just one game back in the VFL from time off to rest his injured foot while Sherman - who is available after serving a four-match suspension for racial vilification - played just two games for Williamstown across his sanction.
Eade also said how long they would persist with Higgins would depend on how he felt after next week's bye.
"His knee is swollen a little bit and at this stage he's had a bit of the problem throughout the year and the swelling has gone down pretty quickly," he said.
"This time it's stayed a bit longer and if he has surgery he'll be out so at this stage we'll give him a bit of time to maybe get that swelling down and he might be able to play again, hopefully after the bye."
Meanwhile, injured defender Brian Lake - who was ruled out for the rest of the season on Tuesday owing to impending knee surgery - trained in the gym on Wednesday.
Eade said he was "100 per cent" confident the dual All Australian full back would be at the club beyond this season, and would recommence running in about six weeks.
"He had that calf and then while he was doing weights his knee blew up so he had a scope to take a bit of cartilage out," he said.
"While they were inside there was a bit of corrective surgery they could do, which was non urgent; it's like having a player at the end of the year having an assessment and going for a tidy up.
"We had a discussion for a week or so and thought, what's the best scenario for next year, and it was to get him ready for day one of pre-season."
Lake will work on strengthening his quads before undergoing the minor operation.
