KANGAROOS' forward Nathan Thompson faces a race against time for the second year running with a lingering ankle injury continuing to hamper his bid to play finals football.

This time last season Thompson, 30, was close to making a return from a knee reconstruction but didn’t make it on to the field, with his latest injury making it unlikely he will be able to press his case for a return in the VFL football this weekend according to coach Dean Laidley.

"I probably couldn't make a comment on that until we see him train or I speak with the medical staff, [but] I wouldn't have thought he'd be likely," Laidley said from Arden St on Friday.

"He'll train this morning and we'll keep reassessing with his ankle and we still think he's got a big role to play, but it's a bit of a wait and see."

Even if the former Hawk does regain full fitness Laidley agreed he had a fight on his hands to force his way into the side already containing forward options David Hale, Drew Petrie, Hamish McIntosh and Aaron Edwards who hasn't played AFL footy since round six.

"They all won't play in the same side, so the race is on," the coach said.

The outlook is much brighter for Edwards who Laidley guaranteed had returned to 100 per cent fitness following the fractured leg he suffered against the Sydney Swans.

"He's a handy inclusion for us," Laidley said.
 
"He's spent three weeks back in the VFL and his first two weeks he got his conditioning up a little bit, but the conditions that he played in were pretty ordinary.

"But he was able to get on a good ground last week in Tasmania and we thought he led up really well and his fitness was good and he finished his work with four goals."

With skipper Adam Simpson, Matt Campbell, Edwards and McIntosh returning from injuries of varying significance recently, Laidley faces some delicate selection decisions in the lead-in to the finals series.

"We've got guys back, but we've got guys back who have missed a lot of footy so you wouldn't want to be taking too many of those guys into a finals campaign," he said.

"But having said that Hamish played a game in the VFL and then he played last week and Aaron's played three games and they've been doing a hell of a lot of training so a game or two under their belt is really going to see where they're at."