KEY MELBOURNE trio Brad Green, Paul Wheatley and Austin Wonaeamirri are 50 per cent chances of resuming against Essendon this Saturday at the MCG.
Green has been sidelined for the past two matches with a hamstring injury, with Wheatley (calf) and Wonaeamirri (general soreness) missing Sunday's loss to North Melbourne at the 'G. Club football operations manager Ross Monaghan said Green, Wheatley and Wonaeamirri would all be monitored in the lead-up to round 18.
"All three will be assessed later in the week. There were no other injuries from the weekend, so all of the blokes that played on the weekend will be available. The only outcome we've got to wait on is with Lynden Dunn [who was reported]," Monaghan said.
Monaghan said the club was weighing up its options in regards to Dunn's strike on North Melbourne's Brent Harvey. One of Dunn's two striking changes on Harvey has been dropped.
"With an early plea, he can escape with a reprimand, so we'll decide this evening or tomorrow morning whether we'll take it to the tribunal or not. An early plea would see him play this week, but it'd mean he'd have 93 demerit points for 12 months," Monaghan said.
Monaghan said the club was pleased with youngsters Shane Valenti, Chris Johnson and Stef Martin, who were all "coming along really well", plus the debut of Addam Maric.
"It was good experience for Addam. We were pleased with some of his aspects and we were encouraged by what he can do long-term.
"He probably didn't show some of his real attributes on the weekend and he was a nervous young fella, but he can do a lot more damage than he did on the weekend and we're sure he will in the future.
"But for a young fella who has just turned 18, to get out there and run around in the big league, there were certainly some aspects that we liked and you'd think he would have learned from the weekend and that'll help him become a better player in the future."
Monaghan said the club was delighted to be playing on Saturday for the first time since round four.
"We've had 11 Sunday games in a row, so we're all pretty excited about playing on Saturday. So we've had to adjust our thinking and everyone is pretty excited to be doing that," Monaghan said.