RICHMOND star Brett Deledio is ready to be unveiled in the NAB Challenge after having his pre-season carefully managed because of an ongoing Achilles tendon issue.
Deledio, who regularly trained away from the main group over summer, will be one of up to 15 Tigers who will play their first pre-season game against Port Adelaide in Albury on Saturday.
Coach Damien Hardwick said the vice-captain would be managed for the rest of his career because of the injury that sidelined him early last year and restricted his output when he returned.
However, Deledio is ready to play in an expanded forward role against the Power after successfully making the transition to attack last season.
"His back end of the year last year when we moved him forward was outstanding and we're looking forward to that continuing in NAB Challenge game two and also in the regular season," Hardwick said on Thursday.
"He'll always be a management issue going forward, [and] he'll only train once, maybe twice a week at various stages.
"From our point of view, Brett is ready to go. He's been in good form over the course of the pre-season."
Captain Trent Cotchin has also been managed for hamstring soreness and trained away from the main group on Thursday, alongside Ben Griffths and Nathan Foley, who will miss up to nine weeks with a foot injury.
On Wednesday, the club initially listed Foley’s return as six weeks away, but he could now be at risk of missing up to a third of the premiership season.
Hardwick said Cotchin and Griffiths were both likely to play in the Tigers' last pre-season game, against North Melbourne on March 21.
"He (Cotchin) could possibly play this week, but from our point of view it's risk management," the coach said.
"He'll possibly play some minutes in NAB Challenge game three and go into round one primed.
"We don’t take any chances with players at this time of the year."
Star forward Jack Riewoldt will play his first NAB Challenge game on Saturday, with Hardwick bullish about the 26-year-old's prospects this season after avoiding post-season surgery for the first time in five years.
"He's in as good a physical nick as I've seen him," Hardwick said.
"I think he's going to have an outstanding year. He's moving freely, he's destroying our defenders at the moment, so we've just got to make sure we deliver the ball to him properly.
"His body shape has significantly improved and we're really excited with what he's going to deliver this year."
Asked if the dual Coleman medallist could improve his output after kicking 61 and 58 goals in the past two seasons, Hardwick joked: "Just 100 would be nice".
The coach said he would have more support in attack this season with the club planning to experiment with a three-talls structure in the NAB Challenge.
The remaining pre-season games will also be used to trial more players across half-back, with Ben Lennon, Nick Vlastuin, Reece Conca and Taylor Hunt all capable of rotating into the back six this year.
"Ben will play some time down back, he'll also spend some time up forward," Hardwick said.
"We've got Chris Newman, who's capable of playing forward and back, and Steve Morris is the same.
"The way the AFL is now you've got to have interchangeable parts, so that's something we're implementing."
