RICHMOND recruit Dion Prestia has overcome the knee injury that ruined his 2016 season and will play in the Tigers' intraclub on Saturday.
 
The former Gold Coast midfielder has been managed carefully through his first summer at Punt Road, having not played since round 16 last year.
 
The 24-year-old underwent knee surgery in July last year to fix the cartilage problem that he had battled with throughout the season.
 
But Richmond fans will be able to get their first glimpse of Prestia in the yellow and black at a short intraclub game during their weekend training run.
 
"[The knee] is going well. I've probably been held back a little bit just because of my history, but we have an intraclub tomorrow and I'll be fully in there," Prestia told SEN on Friday.
 
The Calder Cannons product was the subject of intense speculation throughout his six years at the Suns, with the hard-at-it midfielder regularly linked to a return back to Victoria.
 
He confirmed Hawthorn, Essendon and Melbourne were the other clubs in the mix for his services at the end of last year.
 
Prestia's father is a strong supporter of the Demons and was encouraging his son to choose Melbourne once he had decided to leave the Suns.
 
"He wanted me to go to Melbourne," Prestia said.
 
"He was asking me 'Is Melbourne a chance? Is Melbourne a chance?' But it was just the way it panned out really. Melbourne's midfield was already pretty set up already and they've got some good young players, and so does Richmond.
 
"We just felt that Richmond was a better fit at the time."
 
Richmond will start its JLT Community Series campaign against Adelaide on Friday, February 24, at Etihad Stadium.