JACK Viney, Nathan Jones and Jake Melksham will all play their first games of the pre-season for Casey in the VFL on Saturday, with star recruit Steven May to run out for Melbourne for the first time in the JLT Community Series.

Coach Simon Goodwin said Viney, Jones and Melksham would play around three quarters for Casey against Brisbane's reserves team in the curtain-raiser to the AFL fixture.

The trio are on track for round one after overcoming injury issues that interrupted their pre-seasons.

Viney had surgery on his ankle in the off-season, while Jones and Melksham have battled hamstring issues since Christmas.

"We want to get them going, they're ready to actually play some footy. They probably won't play the whole game, but they're well on their way to being ready for round one," Goodwin said on Thursday.

"We're pretty keen to play as close to our 22 to 23 guys (in the JLT Series), so if we put too many out there who are on restricted minutes it affects everyone else."

May will play his first match of the pre-season after overcoming a hamstring injury.

"It's great for the club to see Steven and it's great for our supporters to put on the guernsey and play for us," Goodwin said.

"He's excited. He's done a lot of work, he's in really good condition and we want him to come out and put on his best defensive game possible."

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Braydon Preuss will play in the VFL side, with Max Gawn to return to the AFL team after being rested against Richmond last week.

"He'll play VFL footy this week. We want to make sure he gets really good time in the ruck," Goodwin said of Preuss.

"We see Braydon as a developing player in our footy club and we want to maximise his time in the ruck."

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Meanwhile, hard-bodied forward Tim Smith is set to miss up to three weeks of football with a calf injury.

Smith was impressive in the Demons' unofficial practice match against Collingwood, but missed the game against the Tigers in Shepparton with injury.

"He's got a strained calf so he'll be out for about three weeks, so it's unfortunate for Tim because he was progressing really well, especially against Collingwood," Goodwin said.

Christian Salem had a light session on the training track on Wednesday, but Goodwin said he would be fit to take his place in the side against Brisbane.