RICHMOND superstar Dustin Martin is all but certain to return from injury against North Melbourne in a battle that could decide this year's wooden spoon – and the No.1 draft pick.

The Tigers are anchored to the bottom of the ladder after suffering a sixth consecutive defeat, beaten 14.9 (93) to 9.13 (67) by Collingwood at the MCG on Sunday.

MAGPIES v TIGERS Full match coverage and stats

But they have the chance to post the third win of Adem Yze's tough first season in charge when they do battle with the Kangaroos on Saturday.

Yze said captain Toby Nankervis is "in a good space" to return as he moves through concussion protocols, while Martin is also likely to play.

The 33-year-old triple premiership star has been sidelined with a back complaint since being subbed out of the Tigers' loss to Carlton on June 30.

"(He'll play against North Melbourne) as long as he doesn't flare up," Yze said.

"He's had three (training) sessions now. He had a good session yesterday and got some good volume.

"Now we've got a couple of sessions where we'll be able to get some training load into him and he'll be in a better position to perform.

"I can't see a reason why he wouldn't play next week."

Yze is also confident Daniel Rioli (ankle) and Tim Taranto (back) will be fit to face North Melbourne despite picking up injuries in the loss to Collingwood.

Prolific midfielder Taranto was substituted out of the game during the third quarter because of a back complaint.

"He's just got a tight lower back," Yze said.

"He tweaked it at the start of the game, in the first quarter, and then it just got worse and worse.

"He's a leader of our footy club and he tried to toil away, tried different things, tried to play different positions – he was happy to play full-forward – but it was too high risk.

"We've got a six-day break going into next week's game and we just needed fit guys out there.

"He was pretty selfless in saying that he needed to get off the ground ... but he should be OK next week."

Yze dismissed suggestions there is added importance to the North Melbourne clash, despite the impact it could have on ladder positions and the draft.

"It's irrelevant who we play – we just want to finish the season off strongly," Yze said.

"Our supporters expect that and we expect that.

"We want to go into next pre-season knowing what our game looks like and having some real consistency in that.

"I feel like we're getting that, but we're just not getting reward for effort at the moment."