Sharpshooter Cam Zurhaar will feature in Saturday's season opener against the West Coast Eagles if he can prove his fitness over the next two days.
The 24-year-old, who has booted 83 goals over the past three seasons, left the field with a calf strain halfway through the club's practice match against the Western Bulldogs in early March.
Fortunately, there's "positive news" for the dynamic forward, who has also offered a different dimension on the ball at times over the summer.
"'Bull' is going really well," head of performance Kevin White told North Media.
"He suffered calf tightness in the first half of that practice game (against the Bulldogs), we went for the conservative approach to minimise any damage that may be there and he ended up having a really minor calf strain.
"But he's progressing really well over the last four sessions that he's had ... he's cleared the strength markers in the gym, and we'll look to tick off full sprint and speed exposure and main training with the group on Thursday to be available for selection."
Key defender Ben McKay was last week ruled out of Saturday's clash, with scans having confirmed bone stress in his right foot.
"He's now in a deload period just to offset that bone stress," White said.
"We'll progress, as the symptoms alleviate, to the next stage of his rehabilitation."
Ruck/forward Callum Coleman-Jones will also be on the sidelines through the early rounds, after he suffered a longitudinal tear of his plantar fascia in a VFL practice match two weeks ago.
"We're looking for that to recover naturally, which takes a little bit of time," White explained.
"He's just out of the moonboot now and is progressing his walking and pool work."
Young inside midfielder George Wardlaw has continued to advance through his conditioning block as he prepares for an early season return.
After a draft year impacted by illness and injury, the former Oakleigh Charger has had his strength, acceleration and speed exposure closely monitored over the last six weeks.
"George is going really well," White mentioned.
"We got a batch of testing that was done about eight weeks ago that showed some deficiencies that we wanted to work on with George.
"We feel really confident that he's improved in those areas, but we've got to re-test him now ... once he clears that, and hopefully he does, that sets him up to return to play.
"He's got really good exposure, good loading under his belt and he's primed and ready ... he's chomping at the bit."
Recruit Darcy Tucker suffered a minor setback upon his most recent return, but looks set to feature in the VFL this weekend along with young defender Jackson Archer.
"On Darcy's lead-in to a return to play a couple of weeks ago, (he) tightened up in his calf in that last main training session," White said.
"Given the length of the pre-season that he missed with his knee we went really conservative. We've spent the last couple of weeks just building up that strength and getting him going once again.
"'Jacko' (Archer) about four weeks ago had some groin soreness.
"Last week he reintegrated back in with the main training group, this week he's continued on with that and looks set to return through the VFL this weekend."
A heavy landing for Jack Mahony a month ago has seen the small forward work through a rehabilitation program for his shoulder.
"He's building up that shoulder strength," White said.
"We're looking for the next two to three weeks where Jack progresses into full unrestricted, full-contact training and really trying to have as much exposure to tackling, grappling and wrestling.
Aidan Corr (conditioning) and Tarryn Thomas (ankle) both appeared for the VFL side on the weekend and will continue to build their fitness through the coming weeks.
"The aim with 'Corry' was to progress his on-field loading and increase his game time, so again, more progression for Aidan this week," White said.
"'Taz' had that awkward landing towards the back-end of the VFL game, so (he) pulled up with a minor ankle sprain.
"He looks set to join main training on Thursday and will progress his return to football conditioning through the VFL this weekend."
