North Melbourne is confident co-captain Jy Simpkin will return to action for Saturday's Round 2 clash with Fremantle.
Simpkin made it through the Kangas' main training session on Tuesday morning and will need to be assessed further after another hitout on Thursday, though it's expected he will be made available for club's first 2024 home game at Marvel Stadium.
It's a much-needed slice of good news for the Kangaroos, after Simpkin sustained his third concussion in the space of just nine months following a nasty bump from St Kilda's Jimmy Webster in the AAMI Community Series.
North Melbourne had been cautious to put an exact timeframe on Simpkin's return, given the nature of the injury and the number of concussions he had sustained in the last year, though the club has been pleased with his recovery in recent days.
"Over the last 12 months this is probably the concussion that Jy pulled up and recovered from the best," White said.
"He had minimal symptoms, and we really graduated his program early in the first 10 days."
Simpkin was subbed out of last year's game with Essendon on June 4 after a clash of heads with Sam Durham, before he missed two weeks later in the year after suffering a delayed concussion from an incident against Geelong on July 9.
The Kangas will be forced into at least one other change from last week's season-opening defeat to the Giants, with young defender Josh Goater expected to be sidelined for an extended period after rupturing his Achilles.
"It's usually about 9-10 months rehab for that," White said.
"We look forward to him having a complete off-season and pre-season next year, but it's just really deflating for him and the team after such a strong pre-season from Josh."
The news was better for versatile back Bigoa Nyuon, who left Saturday's VFL intraclub at Arden Street Oval in the hands of trainers.
Nyuon went down in a marking contest during the fourth quarter but managed to train with the group on Tuesday in a non-contact capacity.
"Biggie copped a really big knock to his ribs at the weekend," White said.
"Fortunately, scans look good, though, without revealing any significant damage or broken ribs, which is a positive.
Key defender Griffin Logue continues to track well as he ramps up his ACL rehab and is estimated to return anywhere between Round 10 and Round 14 later in the season.
"He's in a block at the minute where he's building his gym program, looking at his plyometric forces in the gym, trying to build that jump and the strength around the knee," White said.
"He's a great athlete, and he's ticking all the boxes in terms of that athletic profile that we need to see from him to return to play."
