Richmond’s triple premiership defender Dylan Grimes is poised to play in round 1 barely a week after thumb surgery but his fellow co-captain hasn’t trained for the past week.
Toby Nankervis is due out of the AFL’s health and safety protocols on Wednesday – a day before the Tigers do battle with Carlton – but coach Damien Hardwick said he was a certain starter.
Josh Gibcus will make his AFL debut and Ivan Soldo is in for his first match since round 17, 2020, but Nick Vlastuin (hamstring) has suffered a setback.
Jack Graham (hamstring) will try to push his case at training on Tuesday, while Kane Lambert (hip) has dodged surgery but there is no return timeline for him.
“Dylan’s responded really well. We probably thought he’d be in some form of doubt for the round 1 game but he trained strongly Sunday and he’ll hopefully train strongly again (on Tuesday),” Hardwick said.
“ ‘Nank’ won’t train today, because he’s in health and safety protocols, but he’ll be available to play on Thursday, which is a great result.
“He went in last Wednesday (but hasn’t been able to train) … so you can imagine what his house is like. He’d be running through walls and hopefully his house needs a bit of demo work.
“I’m tipping he’ll be fired up when he gets out. So, it’s going to be a challenge but I’m sure all clubs are going through it at this stage.”
Grimes’ likely availability is a boon for Richmond, given Vlastuin will miss multiple matches to start the season and with former Kangaroo Robbie Tarrant and top-10 draftee Gibcus still learning the defensive system.
But Hardwick plans to stick with swingman Noah Balta in a three-pronged tall forward line, alongside veterans Jack Riewoldt and Tom Lynch.
“We’ve trained him as a forward this year, with the eye of what he can possibly offer,” he said.
“That’s not to say that at some stages he won’t pxjmtzywlay down back but it’s always good to have options as a coach, where you can flick the magnets and push a guy forward or push a guy back when you need him.
“Bringing in Robbie Tarrant has certainly helped with a bigger body down there also, and the emergence of Josh Gibcus, our first-round pick, has allowed us to move a few things around.”
Hardwick remains bullish about the Tigers’ season prospects despite missing finals last year but acknowledged they had some catching up to do.
“Our expectations are high, so we expect to play some good footy for a long period of time, but there are some sides that have gone past us,” he said.
“We’ve got to make sure we continue to play our very best footy and put our best foot forward.
“The greatest thing about an AFL coach and all coaches is you’re always trying to be the underdog – and we are that this year, so that’s our challenge.”
