STEVEN May will play his first official game for new club Melbourne as the Demons welcome back a host of stars for their final JLT Community Series fixture against Brisbane at Casey Fields on Saturday.
May, the former Gold Coast co-captain who was granted his wish for a trade in October, has overcome a hamstring issue and will take his place at fullback against the lifting Lions.
The Demons, who went down to Richmond by 12 points with an understrength team, could also be boosted by the return of co-captains Jack Viney (foot) and Nathan Jones (hamstring) and Jake Melksham (hamstring), each of whom will play at either AFL or VFL level, along with the rested Max Gawn, Michael Hibberd, Neville Jetta, Aaron Vandenberg and Jordan Lewis.
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Melbourne coach Simon Goodwin was "very excited" by the prospect of May, 27, patrolling the Demons defence.
"We brought him to our footy club to play a pretty important role for us and he's had a really good summer," Goodwin told reporters.
"He had a really slight hamstring probably four weeks ago but he's done a hell of a lot of work over the whole pre-season and he's ready to go next week."
One Demon who has been ruled out of the Lions clash is small forward Jeff Garlett, who suffered a shoulder injury that will sideline him for at least two weeks.
Richmond counterpart Damien Hardwick said premiership players Josh Caddy (ankle), Shaun Grigg (knee) and Jason Castagna (ankle) were unlikely to face Hawthorn in Launceston on Saturday.
Boom recruit Tom Lynch is back in full training after recovering from a serious knee injury and Hardwick said the big forward would play when he declared himself ready and could play in round one without any formal match practice. The coach flagged the prospect of Lynch playing a VFL practice match.
Hardwick remains uncertain about the ruck combination the Tigers will take in to their season-opener against Carlton, given the promising efforts of developing big men Noah Balta (two goals) and Ivan Soldo against the Demons, while premier ruckman Toby Nankervis (three) goals was predominantly stationed forward.
"I don't know," Hardwick said with a laugh when asked post-match what his plans were for the club's ruck department.
"I'd love to have some answers for you, but the great thing about it (is that) all those guys are showing something for us, which is real exciting. Trying to squeeze them into a side and see how that works is going to be a real challenge for us, but I'd rather that (problem) than the other one, where they didn't play that well.
"It's a real positive for us. We can build on what they've brought this week into next week.
"We saw some really positive signs today from some of our younger players. Noah Balta was terrific in and around the ruck and provided a real contest for us and a couple of highlights as well."
