WOUNDED Tiger Graham Polak has lifted spirits and given Richmond a boost in the lead-up to Saturday’s clash with Geelong by returning to Punt Road for the first time since being hit by a tram in late June.

Polak was released from hospital on Wednesday and sat in the stands with manager Paul Connors on Friday morning while the Tigers went through their final paces before the match.

Smiling teammates greeted the defender one-by-one while senior coach Terry Wallace was noticeably upbeat about the improvement in Polak.

Assistant coach Brian Royal fronted the press after training and said Polak’s shock return was “fantastic".

"We were a bit surprised, we knew that Graham had got of hospital on Wednesday but for Graham to walk into the club was overwhelming for the players,” Royal said.

"It's just terrific to see Graham back [but] we realise he has got an enormous amount of work [to do] in his recovery.”

Royal was hopeful Polak's return would inspire the side against the reigning premiers but he said that Tigers would take heart from their performance in round eight, when they were able to match the Cats for a half.

“Geelong is a very, very good football side so every one per cent we can gain and no doubt we are all feeling really happy for Graham and he’s made the place a happier place because he’s come back.

“Geelong is in terrific form, they are missing a couple of their key players and that is great, but they have very good back-up players so its going to be a tough ask for us tomorrow.

“Our form over the past five or six weeks has been pretty good and it just gives us an opportunity to measure ourselves against the best in the competition.”

Royal said the coaching staff had studied Hawthorn’s methods during their close match last Friday night with the Cats and would try and copy parts of that game plan that unsettled the ladder leader at times.

“The difficult part with Geelong is just getting the ball back off them because they are very efficient in the way they use the footy, they like to share it around so our pressure has got to be enormous if we are going to get the footy back,” Royal said.

“Last time we ran them for half a game and at stages we were a couple of goals up and if we are any chance to beat them tomorrow night we have got to run them for four quarters.”

Royal said Polak’s progression since his accident had been remarkable but the West Australian still had a long way to go in his recovery.

“It has been a tough few weeks with everything that’s happened with Graham and happened to the Richmond Football Club,” he said.

“So to see Graham walk into the rooms this morning it just put a smile on everyone’s face.

“Graham hasn’t spoken to the players but I have no doubt that he’ll come into our team meeting and have a sit down so we might have a bit of fun with him.

“I think part of the rehabilitation was just him coming down here today and how he handles all the attention.”