Melbourne’s Jayden Hunt is “in the mix” for Friday night’s Preliminary Final against Geelong.
The dashing defender has been sidelined since injuring his ankle against West Coast in Round 21, but is closing in on a possible return.
Youngster Jake Bowey has filled the void off half-back in Hunt’s absence, which provides the Demons with a minor headache ahead of the penultimate match of the season.
The club’s GM of Football, Alan Richardson, says more will be known after the main training session on Tuesday.
“When ‘Hunty’ played, we really liked what he did,” GM of Football Alan Richardson said on SEN Breakfast.
“His defence is really strong because of his speed and his ability to cover anything out the back.
“We like Hunty in the team, but young Bowey has come in and done a really good job. He hasn’t played a lot of footy, but he’s a really composed player and has got incredibly clean hands. We like what he does for us back there.
“It will be a matter of time for Hunty. He’ll need to train really well on Tuesday and we’ll have match committee after that session to make sure everyone’s pulled up ok and we get the tick off from the conditioning and medical staff.
“Hunty will definitely be in the mix, we’ll just have to wait and see on that one.”
Small forward Alex Neal-Bullen is expected to be fit for the Optus Stadium clash with the Cats.
Neal-Bullen had a calf complaint following a scratch match in Perth on Friday, but should be fine to take his place in the starting 22 this week.
Richardson touched on Neal-Bullen’s availability, indicating that the 25-year-old will be “fine”.
“Just a corky,” he said.
“That came out of that scratch match we played on Friday. He’ll be fine.
“As you can appreciate, we’re just going to take all sorts of precautions whether he needs to run laps with a bandage or miss a couple of drills within sessions early in the week.
“We’ll have our main session Tuesday and he’ll do everything so he’s right to go.”
Neal-Bullen leads the way for the Dees for tackles inside 50 and is third for goal assists and inside 50s, highlighting his underrated contribution to the side in 2021.