Richmond is pleased with the progress being made by key pair, Nathan Foley and Dylan Grimes, on the comeback trail from long-term injury problems and expects both players to have an impact, sooner rather than later, in season 2013.

Foley is recovering from a rupture of the Achilles tendon in his right foot, which he suffered last July, while Grimes is returning from the latest bout of hamstring surgery that he underwent late last year.

“They’re tracking well, although they definitely won’t play Round 1, Tigers coach Damien Hardwick told Fox Sports.

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“Nathan is back to his previous best sprint work.  We’ve just got to make sure we manage his loads and get him up and going.

“He’ll probably be back about Round 5-7, somewhere around there.

“Dylan is training full-time with the group now, and we’ve just got to make sure we get some game time into him.”

Hardwick admitted there were some initial concerns for Grimes’ long-term football future, when he again ripped the hamstring, during an early pre-season training session at Moorabbin, but they had now been allayed.

“We had a fantastic success with the operation, we found the problem and we are very confident the issue has been rectified,” Hardwick said.

“We look forward to Dylan playing a long and distinguished career for this footy club.”