KANGAROOS coach Dean Laidley has concededthe "temptation is there" to include Nathan Thompson in the side's selectionconsiderations after the forward declared himself fit and ready to play onSaturday afternoon.

Thompson underwent a knee reconstruction inthe pre-season this year after rupturing his anterior cruciate ligament in apractice match.

Ahead of the Kangaroos’ clash with Carlton on Saturday,Thompson told ABC Radio he is ready to return to the game, despite knowing therisks of pushing the reconstructed knee too soon.

And, with VFL side Tasmania's season ending on Saturday,Thompson will have to come straight back into the seniors without any matchpractice if he is to stage a comeback in time for the finals.

"There are probably a few peoplebefore me in the queue that you probably have to ask," Laidley said afterthe Roos' 82-point mauling of the Blues when asked if he'd consider playing thetalented former Hawk.

"Surgeons, club doctors, conditioningpeople, and then if you tick all those boxes, you can come and see the coach.

"Until those boxes are tickedcompletely, and he has been training well and the temptation is there, you haveto wait and see.

"We should just name him next week tokeep all you people on the trail."

With the Roos' forward structure headed byAaron Edwards and Drew Petrie firing on Saturday, Laidley was asked how hard itwould be to bring Thompson into a side already blessed with handy goal-kickers.

"Yes, but what if it works better thanit has been?" he replied.

"You just don't know, do you? I don'tknow about Josh Gibson, he's playing as we speak, but Jess Smith willdefinitely be right, and if he trains well, he'll come back into the side thisweek.

"Hopefully, all of a sudden, we've gota few players to pick from. You've got to train well and you've got toperform."

The Roos finalised their place in the topeight with their 13th win for the season on Saturday, and Laidley said theirposition presents an opportunity to give players like Michael Firrito amuch-needed week off in round 22.

"He's had a bruised heel, he's had itfor a couple of weeks. It's sore but it's not going to get any worse. I'llprobably think he'll have a week off now, to get it right, and Jess Smith willbe right, he just had a sore ankle from last week," he said.

"If Josh Gibson gets through, we'llcertainly have a look at him coming in next week.

"We've had a few of our defendersplaying a little bit taller than we would have liked over the last few weeks,and we probably need to have a look at him now to see if he can play a part inSeptember."

Edwards came off in the second half ofSaturday's game, but Laidley said he was merely suffering cramp "through hisgroins and upper leg", while Matt Campbell was a late withdrawal withillness.