“We’re absolutely delighted to have Shane back in,” Evans said.

“It’s been an interesting battle for him over the last two months to try and get himself right and it looks like he might be on top of it now.”

However despite the knee’s improvement, Evans was reluctant to say that the veteran would play out the remainder of the home and away season.

“It’s certainly the best that it’s been for the last few months. We’re confident that he’s right to go in this match, but we’ll still have to monitor how he pulls up out of the match before we determine if he can play next week.”

Stuart Dew returns to the side for his first outing since round 13, having come through a tough training regime following a hamstring injury.

“We thought it was important to give him that extended training block rather than bring him straight back," Evans said.

"And the last two or three weeks he has replicated match intensity at training and got through it quite well.”

Michael Osborne misses due to a corked buttock he sustained in last weekend’s defeat to the Cats, while Travis Tuck is omitted.

“It’s unfortunate for Travis who hasn’t been in poor form at all, but when you’ve got someone like Shane Crawford coming back in it makes it tough,” Evans said.

Clinton Young has been named as an emergency and will play for Box Hill at the weekend. However Tim Boyle (groin) and Ben McGlynn (quad) are still a few weeks away from a return to competitive action.