NORTH Melbourne midfielder Daniel Wells is almost certain to play again this season after a convincing return to the training track.

Wells has carried a groin injury for most of the year but in recent weeks has also had to recover from lacerating his leg in a gym accident.

Chief of football Donald McDonald confirmed that Wells had completed most of last week’s program, had another good session on Tuesday and that a VFL reserves game was a possibility if the 24-year-old continued to improve between now and Saturday.

“Wellsy’s just got to keep training to see how he pulls up,” he told kangaroos.com.au. “He’s feeling a lot more confident session by session. We’re not expecting miracles from him because he hasn’t played for so long.

“We could have put him away for the rest of the season but we didn’t want to do that and Daniel certainly doesn’t want to do that either.

“If he could play a couple of games before the season’s over, that would be terrific.”

McDonald said that Wells – who has not played since round 11 – would be available if not for the gash to his leg last month, which required stitches and two weeks without running.

He added that an opportunity at the lower level could be postponed if the club’s strength and conditioning staff felt Wells had more to gain from another training session.

“It’s more about the intensity of his training from an injury management perspective,” McDonald said.

“The conditioning boys might want him to have another good solid week, another two or three really solid sessions under his belt, and they can control that by having a really good session on the Saturday morning rather than a game scenario.”

Utility Leigh Harding will have to work hard to play another game this year after tearing a hamstring against Carlton last Friday night.

Harding had lunged for a mark when he sustained the injury in the second quarter of the game.

McDonald said that Harding, who had played every match this season, would need the full 21 days’ recovery after x-rays revealed the severity of the tear.

“Knowing Leigh, he will prepare and do everything he possibly can to get back for that last game,” McDonald said.

“It’s just a matter of seeing how he responds to the treatment and how quickly the injury heals. He’s been a really good contributor for us over the past couple of years.”

Emerging tagger Levi Greenwood and defender Nathan Grima will need to get through Thursday’s main training session to be selected for Sunday’s clash with Melbourne.

Both players bruised knees against the Blues but McDonald said they should benefit from the nine-day break.

Two weeks have passed since unlucky backman Jesse Smith’s latest hamstring setback and he remains at least another fortnight away from being considered.

McDonald said Smith’s focus had to remain on returning this year.

“He was shattered, as we all were, but we’ve had a week or two now to let the dust settle, get back on the horse again and have another crack at it,” he said.

“We’ve got all pre-season to get him going again and we’ll leave no stone unturned in trying to get him right.”