RICHMOND star Brett Deledio has trained strongly on Saturday morning and is set to play against Melbourne on Sunday night at the MCG.
Deledio, 29, has been struggling with a quadriceps injury that has prevented him from playing this season.
The training session the day before a game is typically light and this was no different.
Match preview: Melbourne v Richmond
The two-time All Australian participated in kicking drills before the team practised its ball movement over the full ground.
He finished by taking shots at goal. Deledio's longest kick for the session was about 45m and he took part in the whole session.
His unusual injury meant he could run long before he was able to kick. He eventually progressed to kicking with a child-sized football before beginning to use a full-sized Sherrin last weekend.
The first player drafted in 2004, Deledio's pre-season was also hampered by a calf injury. He only made it on to the field for Richmond's final NAB Challenge game against Port Adelaide.
He was named in a back pocket against the Demons but coach Damien Hardwick told reporters on Thursday Deledio needed to get through training before a final decision would be made on his fitness.
The Tigers have struggled without the dual best and fairest, falling to 1-3 from four games this season.
It takes their historical record without Deledio since his debut in round one, 2005 to an unflattering three wins from 17 games – a success rate of just 17.6 per cent.
Richmond won 15 games in 2015 before being knocked out in the first round of finals for the third successive year by eventual preliminary finalists North Melbourne.
