STAR Richmond recruit Tom Lynch remains more than a fortnight away from entering Tigers match simulation as doubt grows over his prospects for round one.
Lynch ramped up his program at Punt Road on Thursday morning, taking part in full-ground ball movement before sitting out contested drills.
Four weeks out from the season opener against Carlton on March 21, Lynch continues to work closely with club fitness staff on his running style after a PCL surgery last July.
JLT FULL FIXTURE Where your team's playing its warm-up games
The former Suns co-captain will sit out the Tigers' intraclub on Saturday, and he is expected to be an onlooker for the two JLT Community Series matches starting next week.
"To be honest I think he's still a fortnight away, possibly longer," fellow forward Jack Riewoldt said of Lynch's return to match simulation.
There's a no-risk policy with our players – if he's right to go when the JLT rolls around, he'll play - Jack Riewoldt on Tom Lynch
"If he's not, he won't, same with round one. We'll take the slowly, slowly approach with him and we know he's going to be a great player for us in the long-term."
Riewoldt and Lynch are yet to share the same forward line in match practice to develop a partnership, something the incumbent full-forward believes will take time.
He won’t be playing as a decoy like the vision suggests, but Tom Lynch stepping it up at Punt Road this morning.
— Mitch Cleary (@cleary_mitch) February 20, 2019
Not hitting straps just yet but big strides in last month @AFLcomau pic.twitter.com/TBVR7ICm04
"In a perfect world we'd love to try and get a couple of training sessions for starters. Months of training together would be great but it's not the cards we've been dealt," Riewoldt said.
"I've played with other key forwards and been successful with other key forwards, but for us we know it's going to probably be a little bit clunky early on, as any new partnership can be.
"We know we need to be firing at the right end of the season."
The Tigers face Melbourne in Shepparton on March 3 before rounding out their pre-season in Launceston against Hawthorn on March 9.