RICHMOND will be without midfielder Dion Prestia for Saturday night's clash with Gold Coast after deciding to rest the recruit against his former club.
Prestia, who has played run-with roles in recent weeks and would have been earmarked for champion midfielder Gary Ablett, has succumbed to knee and calf soreness.
Coach Damien Hardwick was confident the 24-year-old would only miss one match, returning for the Tigers' round 20 clash against Hawthorn at the MCG.
"Dion won't play this week, he just got through last week and was probably touch-and-go, (so) with a six-week break he won't get up," Hardwick said on Thursday.
"We'll put him on ice and make sure he's right for next week. He's too important a player for us too risk on a six-day break. He'll get back for the Hawthorn game.
"It's a combination of [knee soreness] and calf and those sorts of things. Once one starts the other one starts to flare up a little bit.
"He was probably due to have a break at some stage. He's missed a lot of footy over the last two years and pre-season he didn't complete to the level both he and us would like.
"From a management point of view, it's probably the time to take that break."
Prestia's training program has been heavily managed this season because of past knee issues and he missed two matches early in the season because of hamstring soreness.
He was struck down by knee injuries in each of the past two seasons and underwent surgery last July, ending his final season with Gold Coast.
"He was probably due to have a break at some stage," Hardwick said.
"He's missed a lot of footy over the last two years and pre-season he didn't complete to the level both he and us would like.
"From a management point of view, it' probably the time to take that break."
Hardwick said inside midfielder Anthony Miles could come into the team as a replacement for Prestia if he passed a fitness test on Thursday following a minor knee injury.
Richmond will also regain half-back Bachar Houli for Saturday night's clash against the Suns after serving a four-match ban for striking.
"He's done a lot of game simulation training, so he'll be ready," the coach said of Houli.
"As much training as you can do, you never get to the levels of AFL footy, so he'll be a little bit underdone but he'll get better for the run as we go along."
Richmond lost key forward Ben Griffiths to a dislocated shoulder in the VFL last Sunday, but Hardwick was confident the luckless Tiger could return in two to four weeks after avoiding surgery.
Having prepared for the tall target to return to the senior team, Hardwick said the match committee now needed to think about its best structure going into the final five rounds of the season.
"(Ivan) Soldo is playing some good footy at the moment, and we've got a couple of other key position players at the lower level going OK," the coach said.
"They're young and inexperienced, so we've got to make a call at some stage whether we throw one of these guys to the wolves in a way and see what we can get.
"We know we have a template with our speed up forward that works for us, it's whether we back that in for the longer-term."
