Richmond star Brett Deledio will not rush his return from a quadricep injury.

Deledio missed the Tigers’ opening round win against Carlton and has been ruled out of their Round 2 clash with Collingwood at the MCG on Friday night. 

The dual Jack Dyer Medallist complained of tightness in his quadricep following Richmond’s final NAB Challenge match against Port Adelaide three weeks ago.

“I’m running quite strongly at the moment,” Deledio told Tiger great Matthew Richardson on the Club’s new weekly preview podcast.

“I’m getting plenty of kilometres into my legs.  It’s just kicking at the moment.

“If you could handball goals, I’d probably be a chance to play, but unfortunately you have to kick them.

“It’s not ideal.  I’ve just got to start off with a little footy that’s similar to the one I’ve got for (daughter) Milla at home, kick that around, then progress up to the ones we use.”

At this stage, Deledio is unsure how long he will be sidelined for.

“When I first did it, I thought anywhere under four weeks was really good, but it’s something I really don’t want to rush,” he said.

“As soon as you come back too early, you kick and you nick it again, then you’re out for another three or four (weeks).

“We will be cautious with it just to get it right.

“The season’s only young, and I’ve actually got to get a bit of footy under my belt.  I’ve only played 60 minutes so far…”

While Deledio is disappointed he’ll have to watch tomorrow night’s big game from the sidelines, he declared the playing group was determined to improve on the Round 1  performance against Carlton.

“The boys will be ready and raring to get out there and just improve on what we did last week, because it really wasn’t the way we wanted to play footy,” he said.