League leaders Richmond hope to select a near full-strength side in their last hit-out before the finals, next week's final round clash with the Western Bulldogs at the MCG.
Tigers coach Damien Hardwick said his team would regain skipper Trent Cotchin (hamstring soreness), fellow midfielder Dion Prestia (hamstring soreness) and defender David Astbury (Achilles soreness) for the Saturday afternoon clash, while Kane Lambert (ankle) and Dan Butler (ankle) are likely to be available for the club’s first final.
"Dion trained today and ran well, 'Cotch' trained today and ran well, and Dave the same, so those three will come back," Hardwick said following his side's eight-point win over Essendon at the MCG on Friday night.
"Lambert will probably miss another one, I'd say. 'Butts' is probably a couple of weeks away as well. They're on the mend."
The Tigers weren’t at their electrifying best against the Bombers, and perhaps were never going to be, given the loss of key players.
They seemingly had the game under control with a 33-point buffer early in the last quarter before conceding the last four goals as Essendon made a frantic bid to keep its finals hopes alive.
However, Hardwick naturally remains optimistic.
"We’ll get the majority of our best side up and going next week, get them back playing together and get a little bit of that clunkiness out (of our game) that we’re probably seeing at the moment," he said.
"We’re not playing our best footy, but we think it’s not too far away …
"A lot of that clunkiness can be attributed to the way (Essendon) played. Their pressure was quite high throughout the night so our ball movement was a little bit scratchy, but we probably didn't use the ball as well as we normally would."
