Collingwood’s Dane Swan and North Melbourne’s Daniel Wells are hoping to make Round 20 returns with both clubs fighting to maintain top eight positions on the AFL ladder.
Magpies leadership will make a decision on Swan, who has not played since Round 17, in the next 24 hours, but taking a chance on the 30-year-old a week ahead of his expected return date is a risk for the battered and bruised midfielder.
“We’ll see how he pulls up from that and he will train again on Friday,” coach Nathan Buckley said ahead of this weekend’s encounter with West Coast.
“The original plan was to have him up for Brisbane, (but) he is a senior player. He has a lot of experience, so we will end up having a discussion with him in the next 24 hours.”
Tagger Brent Macaffer is also expected to return for the eighth placed Pies, who are just percentage points away from climbing as high as sixth or dropping out of the eight behind Gold Coast.
A six-point win helped the Pies snap a three-game losing streak against Port last weekend. The club now has an easy stretch ahead, including West Coast, Brisbane and GWS before a Round 23 clash with reigning premiers Hawthorn.
North midfielder Wells will definitely make a long-awaited return this weekend, but the Kangaroos will determine whether he plays in the first or VFL side based on his ability to get through training.
The 29-year-old hasn’t played since Round 5 and is wary of match fitness.
“(I’m) not going to be gliding down the wing in the last quarter,” Wells said.
“I’ll probably be struggling a fair bit, so that’s where I’ll just look for the boys to help me out a bit.
“It’s been so long. Just to actually train with the boys over the last couple of weeks has been good.
“Now I’m trying to step it up to play a game, whether it’s VFL (or) AFL I’ll leave that up to the coaches.”
The sixth-placed Kangaroos are coming off consecutive heavy losses to Carlton and Geelong, but face a reprieve when they take on GWS on Saturday.
Photo: Michael Dodge/Getty Images
