ALL AUSTRALIAN ruckman Todd Goldstein is in doubt for North Melbourne's clash against Richmond in Hobart on Friday night.
Goldstein suffered a knock to the knee in North's loss to the Sydney Swans last Friday night but, despite some rare extended time on the interchange bench, was able to play out the game.
North coach Brad Scott told reporters Goldstein had "recovered pretty well" after the Swans loss and would be named in the Roos' 22 on Thursday.
"I don't know whether he'll come up or not. You would think he would. Generally if he cops a little knock he recovers pretty strongly from them," Scott said on Tuesday.
"We'll pick him in our side and probably plan on him playing, but have contingencies just in case.
"He's able to do a fair bit of cross-training work. We've put a power of work into him over the journey so fitness is not a concern.
"It's just a matter of getting him physically in the best shape we can get him for Friday night."
Goldstein did not appear on the track at the start of North training on Tuesday. If he doesn't play, Majak Daw will almost certainly step in the Roos' No.1 ruck role against the Tigers.
Drew Petrie has been held goalless in the past two rounds and told RSN radio on Tuesday morning his form needed to improve.
Asked whether Petrie could come under pressure to hold his spot given North's depth of key forwards, Scott said the veteran spearhead was in no imminent danger of being dropped.
"We've always said with our forward structure that it's about the unit itself. As long as the unit is functioning quite well, then we're not concerned about individual performances within that," Scott said.
"And Drew gives us that baseline defensive effort that is unrivalled in the competition, so while he's doing that he still plays a really important role for us.
"With forwards, it's often just a matter of time until the ball falls their way, and Drew's doing a power of work.
"He's got all his capability, he's still a very, very important part of our forward mix and he's going to be a really important part of our mix this weekend."
The Roos coach said Lachy Hansen (concussion) and Taylor Garner (hamstring) would return from injury with Werribee in the VFL this round.
Hansen has missed the past three weeks after copping an off-the-ball bump from Williamstown's Cameron Lockwood that earned the VFL player a two-week suspension.
Scott said North had taken no risks at all with Hansen in his recovery from the "bitterly disappointing incident".
"It was a really concerning injury, he didn't recover well at all," Scott said.
"We have first-hand experience here of the effects of concussion and Leigh Adams (who retired last year after repeated concussions) is a really good friend of Lachy Hansen's.
"So we were just determined that he wouldn't even resume training until he was completely symptom-free and then we gave him another week just to make sure."
