MELBOURNE stars Max Gawn and Clayton Oliver are expected to be available for Friday night's semi-final against Carlton at the MCG, despite the pair dealing with injury concerns following the qualifying final loss to Collingwood.
Gawn and Oliver didn't train with the main group on Sunday but both hit the track at Casey Fields on Tuesday as the Demons build towards facing the Blues in front of a crowd expected to soar above 90,000 people again.
Demons coach Simon Goodwin wouldn't elaborate on the injury issues the pair are dealing with, but it is understood Gawn has been carrying a toe injury and Oliver is recovering from knee soreness.
"I'm not going to give out our medical report, but I can confirm that he is going to train fully today. Both he and Clayton will train fully today and be available," Goodwin said on Tuesday morning.
"I think every player is carrying certain things at certain times of the year. This isn't something that is going to slow either of these two down. They had a light day the other day but they will train fully today."
Melbourne will be forced to make two changes at selection with Angus Brayshaw entering the AFL's concussion protocols following the first quarter incident involving Collingwood vice-captain Brayden Maynard, while Jacob van Rooyen has accepted a one-game suspension.
The Demons are already without premiership defender-turned-forward Harry Petty and Jake Melksham inside 50 and will need to get creative this weekend. Ben Brown is expected to be fit after recovering from a knee injury, while Josh Schache is available for selection.
Goodwin wouldn't be drawn to comment on Brodie Grundy, but the off-season recruit is an option for Melbourne to consider given the lack of tall targets available in attack and the injury cloud hovering over Gawn. Grundy has played just one game since being dropped after round 17, ironically the loss to Carlton in round 22.
"Nothing is off the table. It is early in the week. I'm sure there will be some questions on the forward line and Jacob van Rooyen not playing. I'm not going to go into the depths of what the team will look like from a selection perspective, but what we have done throughout the whole year is have to find a way to score," Goodwin said.
"We've had some real interruptions in the forward half of the ground and that's no different currently. We'll come up with a plan, with the method, with the personnel to maximise what we've got. We're excited by that opportunity. We're not thinking 'woe is me'."
Melbourne is facing an unwanted piece of history on Friday night with the threat of back-to-back straight-sets exits hovering above the club.
The Demons became only the tenth side to bow out in straight sets last year since the current finals system was introduced in 2000, but are facing the prospect of becoming the first side to exit in that manner in consecutive years.
Goodwin said Melbourne won't be crippled by that threat and will embrace the challenge of overcoming a Carlton side that has just won its first final in a decade after returning to September for the first time since 2013.
"We are a club that will lean into the pressure," he said.
"Pressure, stress, anxiety about performance and playing well on the big stage is in all elite sport, but right now there is six teams left that are all going to face pressure. We want to lean into that and be prepared for owning that time, owning that moment. We'll focus on process, focus on what we can control."
