George Wardlaw is set for his first minutes as a Kangaroo in the VFL this weekend after ticking off his final testing block.

Selected with the fourth pick of the 2022 AFL Draft, Wardlaw has had his strength, acceleration and speed exposure closely monitored over the last six weeks as the club looked to slowly build him up after an injury-impacted final junior year.

The Oakleigh Chargers product is expected to play three quarters on Saturday afternoon at Arden Street in what will be his introduction to gameplay this year.

"George had his final piece of testing today, so he's ticked that final hurdle which is great news," head of performance Kevin White told NMFC Media.

"All the boys got around him this morning in the team meeting just with the work that he's done over the past eight weeks, and he's cleared now for playing VFL in this weekend's game … so it's really exciting for George."

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Trending positively after scans confirmed bone stress in his right foot is key defender Ben McKay who will look to progress his running loads over the next couple of weeks.

"'Buckets' (McKay) is going really well," White said.

"We had that deload period initially off the back of the scan that he had done on his foot, which revealed the light bone stress … he's going in the right direction at the minute."

Fellow big man Callum Coleman-Jones is also on the right path after sustaining a slight tear in his plantar fascia.

"He was in the moon boot to start off (his recovery) just to offload that foot and he has transitioned to overground running now," White said.

"It's a really good progression for 'CJ' and then over the next two weeks we'll look to build his running loads and football function as long as there's no pain either during session or after session."

After returning to action in the VFL this past weekend, recruit Darcy Tucker has sustained a minor setback with an AC joint issue.

The former Docker spent the bulk of the off-season rehabbing his knee, and subsequently his calf, and now faces a test ahead of the reserves' Round 1 clash with Port Melbourne.

"He had an AC joint injury towards the back-end of that second quarter (in Saturday's VFL practice match) after a big collision, (so he's) pretty stiff and sore at the minute," White mentioned.

"He's been on contact today during today's first light skill session.

"We need Darcy to go through full contact and be unrestricted with his football movements on Thursday to progress him into VFL gameplay on the weekend, so he's a test depending how he goes on Thursday."

Working his way back from his own shoulder injury is small forward Jack Mahony, who is on the verge of making a return.

"He's been building up his contact, grappling, wrestling and full contact in the last few weeks," White said.

"He's looking to tick off his last session of full training with the main group for availability to play through the VFL this week."

Having suffered a "high-grade ankle syndesmosis injury", ruckman Tristan Xerri underwent surgery today as he takes his first step towards recuperation.

"(It's) very hard to give an estimated timeline, it's generally based off the first couple of weeks of recovery as long as there's no infection," White said.

"But you are looking at a medium to longer term rehabilitation for 'X', he will be out for quite some time, but we'll give more definitive answers probably after week three when he's in that initial phase of recovery, post-surgery."