MELBOURNE expects star ruckman Max Gawn and important defender Neville Jetta to both be fit for Saturday's clash against North Melbourne at Blundstone Arena in Hobart.
Gawn rolled his ankle in the third quarter of the club's 23-point win over Port Adelaide at the MCG on Sunday and, although he played out the game, sought regular treatment thereafter.
The All Australian big man did not train with teammates on Tuesday, but the club is confident he will get up in time for Saturday's game.
"[The ankle] blew up and it was quite swollen after the game," Demons elite performance manager Dave Misson said.
"We're just being pretty conservative with him early in the week, but again we expect him to do some work on Thursday and play."
Jetta turned his right ankle when he accidentally stood on a stray football lying around during a kicking drill at training on Tuesday.
The in-form defender initially tried to laugh the incident off but realised after a few moments that something was not quite right and hobbled off to the side of Gosch's Paddock where he was assessed by club doctor Zeeshan Arain.
"It was a really innocuous incident (standing) on one of the footys," Misson said.
"He'll be OK. He'll train on Thursday and be right to go."
Co-captain Nathan Jones did a high-intensity running session supervised by Misson at the end of training as he continues to build up his training load following a quad injury.
However, Jones is unlikely to return against the Roos – which will be his sixth-straight missed game.
Misson said Jones still needed to prove he could kick at maximum power, considering the injury was on his kicking leg.
"He'll be a test but he's more likely to be next week than this week," Misson said.