Richmond Physical Performance Manager, Peter Burge, says Richmond defender Bachar Houli will make his playing return from a wrist injury this weekend.
Houli, who has not played since Richmond's loss to Hawthorn in Round 7, will look to return via the VFL in their match against Box Hill at Punt Road Oval on Sunday.
“Bachar had another scan on his wrist (on Monday) which has enabled him to now participate in full contact skills,” Burge said.
“He’s been doing non-contact skills now for four weeks so we’ll probably play him through the VFL this week in limited game time, around 70 minutes, given he’s missed nearly 11 weeks and next week is a six-day break.
“We want him to pull up well from the game and from training this week and not be too sore, so all those things we’ve got to consider.”
Meanwhile, star Tiger Brett Deledio will need to prove his fitness if he is a chance of featuring in this Sunday’s match against the Hawks at the MCG.
Deledio had a strong opening-half against Essendon last Saturday but complained of calf soreness at the main break and took no further part in the game.
Burge said Deledio had scans on his soleus muscle on Monday, which did not reveal any significant damage.
“Really it’s just seeing what happens in the next couple of days,” Burge said of Deledio’s availability.
“With soleus muscle injuries, or soreness more so, they can actually come good quite quickly.
“It’s an individual thing so we’ll just have to wait and see later in the week.”
Burge said there was no exact incident that caused the injury, rather Deledio noticed the soreness in his right calf at the main break.
“He came (into the change rooms) at half time and he was feeling really good,” he said.
“We generally do a little bit of a warm-up during the half time break and he just noticed towards the end of that he was just getting a little bit tight.
“We went out (for the) third quarter and did a little bit more (warm-up) before the start of the quarter and he noticed he was getting sore, so we made a call right there and then that he should not take further part in the game.”
In other news, Burge was hopeful Kamydn McIntosh would line-up before the season’s end, while youngster Corey Ellis is two to three weeks away from returning from a groin injury.
