Richmond High Performance Manager Ben Serpell has provided an update on several players as Richmond prepares for next week's Match Simulation against Essendon.

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With the Bombers clash scheduled for next Friday at The Hangar, followed by a trip to Ballarat to take on Melbourne in the AAMI Community Series the week after, Serpell is confident the playing group is prepared for proper game time.

"We'll sit down with the coaching group over the next few days and decide how much game time we want each player to achieve before we head into Round 1," Serpell said.

"We will break it up into what's more important - the first game (against Essendon) or the second game (against Melbourne). Once we've achieved that, we'll put together a plan for each individual player so we can be confident they've had enough match exposure before we enter the season."

Josh Smillie, Quad

"Smil is doing really well. He has had a really good summer," Serpell said.

"He had some scans on his quad. That’s come back showing that it’s healing as expected at this point in time.

"He will progress his kicking in the next little while and we’ll hopefully see him out in some drills in the next two to three weeks."

Sam Lalor, Load Management

"Sam’s had an exceptional pre-season. If you think about last year, he came to the Club having never completed pre-season because of his cricket," Serpell said.

"He got through most things this pre-season. As a whole he is doing exceptionally well.

"We’ve decided to off-load him a little bit over this next little while and build his loads up leading into Round 1."

Nick Vlastuin, Ankle

"Nick's progress is well documented. He himself suggests he is not doing well. We’ve probably got more faith in his body than he has himself," Serpell said.

"His ankle is going really well and he’s getting through his niggles.

"He’s getting involved in a little bit more match simulation as the weeks go on. He’s doing really well."

Tom Sims, Foot

"Simsy underwent navicular surgery in the off-season," Serpell said.

"We were hoping he’d be out doing a bit more footy at this point in time, but his loading has stalled a little bit.

"We need to put him in a holding pattern. Hopefully he’ll be back out running next week, and soon after into some football drills."

Sam Banks, Foot

"Banksy came off a big year last year and had a little bit of foot stress," Serpell said.

"He’s back into a bit of match simulation at the moment and we’ll see that progress over the next little while."

Judson Clarke, ACL

"Judson is getting involved in a bit of rehab skills at the moment and doing a bit of running," Serpell said.

"We’re going to send him over to Aspetar with our head physio Anthony Schache in the next couple of weeks to get the final tick off and see how he’s progressing.

"Similar to our ACLs last year, we are going to wait the full 12 months to return to play.

"He’s progressing really well, he’s feeling comfortable and pain-free at the moment."

Load Management

"Guys like Toby Nankervis, Jacob Hopper, Nathan Broad, they’re progressing into footy," Serpell said.

"They’re well and truly involved in the match simulation.

"Again, we will progress their match simulation load in the next little while, and they should all be available by Round 1."