JACK Viney is a shock chance to return against Collingwood on Queen's Birthday, just two weeks after breaking the knucklebone in his left hand against Port Adelaide
Melbourne is set to name the star midfielder in its extended squad on Thursday night, with Viney to undergo a fitness test on Saturday to determine whether he is fit to play.
"He's probably a 50/50 chance to play but we'll name him in the team and if he trains well Saturday and we haven't put him in we'll be kicking ourselves," Demons coach Paul Roos said.
Viney saw his surgeon on Monday and received a positive report on his left hand.
The two things the Demons will look at when assessing Viney is whether he can tackle and whether he has any difficulty handling the football.
"If you were a betting man, you'd bet that he's going to play," Roos said.
"But our job is to decide whether he can functionally perform the way we want him to play and we won't know that until Saturday morning."
Ben Kennedy will also be named in the Demons' squad for Monday's game at the MCG after collecting 30 disposals and kicking three goals in the VFL at the weekend.
Roos said the nine-day break gave the Demons a chance to do something a little different, with the coach revealing he took the players to the movies on Wednesday to see Nice Guys, starring Russell Crowe and Ryan Gosling.
"We had a lighter day yesterday and we did some work at MSAC (Melbourne Sports and Aquatic Centre)," Roos said.
"I can highly recommend it if anyone wants to watch a good movie.
"We try to do different things, try to stimulate the players and try to get them away from the club.
"You don't want to be in every single day and then come Monday they feel like they need a day off – it's not a great day to take off when you've got to play, so we hope that doesn't happen."
The Demons are still uncertain when Christian Salem (thyroid issue) and Heritier Lumumba (concussion) will return to the training track.
"Salo's (Salem) very much a medical issue and he needs to get on some medication and when the blood levels get to a certain level… he can start upping his training, so it's a bit of an unknown," Roos.
"Heritier is certainly getting closer but he's seeing someone today (Thursday) to get another assessment so they're ongoing discussions we have with our medical department."
