Richmond star Brett Deledio has declared he’s on track for the season-opener against Carlton on March 24, after managing some injury trouble during a modified pre-season program.

Deledio was sidelined for the Tigers’ first two NAB Challenge matches (against Fremantle and Hawthorn), but expects to be available for the final one, next Thursday (March 10) against Port Adelaide at Etihad Stadium.

“My Achilles is feeling really good, actually.  I’ve just had a couple of niggling calf issues that have hung around for a little while,” Deledio said on ‘Fox Footy’. 

“I’m on top of them now and back into some pretty solid training, and looking forward to being back out there with the boys, because it’s been such a long time waiting.

“I’m looking to play NAB 3, and I think we’ve got an internal game as well, just after that.  So, looking forward to being involved and getting the season going.”

Deledio admitted his injury problems had been “quite tricky to manage”.

 “We’ve tried to lay off a little bit to help the Achilles, but then ran into calf problems,” he said.

“Unfortunately, they just need work, and you can’t work the whole way through the year – you need a rest.”

The 28-year-old veteran of 232 league games is genuinely excited at the prospect of again kicking off the AFL season, in the now traditional Round 1 clash with the Blues.

“It is fantastic . . . It’s a game that I’ve been involved in for seven or eight years and the one year when we played the Gold Coast, up there for our first game, it really did feel quite strange,” he said.

“Thursday night, at the ‘G’, against old rivals in Carlton . . . it doesn’t get much better.”