Bluescoach Mick Malthouse said the star forward, who hasn’t played a gamethis season due to a calf complaint, would "play as much as he can"against Port Melbourne at Preston City Oval from 2pm on Sunday.
Malthousetold the media at Visy Park on Thursday that Waite could spend one ortwo weeks in the VFL before returning to the senior side, depending onhow his body responds to the workload.
Until he was sidelined in February, the injury-prone 30-year-old had enjoyed his best pre-season in up to five years.
In recent weeks he has embarked on a "mini-pre-season" to condition him for a playing return.
"It's been a long haul, a long wait, so we will see how he pulls up (and) go from there," Malthouse said.
"He's trained very well over the last couple of weeks. The old saying, 'When they're ready, give them another week.'"
The coach revealed Waite had been reluctant to take a conservative approach to his recovery.
"He'slike any player – (he) doesn’t really want to have 'patience' listednext to his name; he just wants to get out there," he said.
"Unfortunately,he's had to be reasonably patient over that period because the leg justdidn’t respond early on. It has in the last month.
"He's had to do a mini-pre-season … He could have been playing two weeks ago had he been able to perhaps get out there and run."
Malthouseisn’t setting high expectations on Waite from a performance perspectivejust yet, stressing the importance for Waite and the Blues to betterunderstand his body and finally "get it right".
"It's not amatter of how many goals he kicks or how many footballs he touches, it'sa matter of getting through, understanding his body, which he does,(and) us understanding that he can get through a game of football," hesaid.
"The system is: get it right. Let's not be rushed intoanything regardless of the result this weekend or who we play thefollowing weekend."
A critical inclusion for the Blues' AFL sidein the twilight clash with the Adelaide Crows at the MCG on Saturday issmall forward Eddie Betts, who returns after overcoming a broken jawsuffered in round one.
"He's a very valued player, has enormousimpact with the player group – they all love him – and he just lovesplaying footy, so it's very good," Malthouse enthused.
The coachalso lavished praise on Crows spearhead Taylor Walker, making qualifiedcomparisons to goalkicking legends Tony Lockett and Jason Dunstall.
"Hereminds me of a modern-day version of a (Tony) Lockett and (Jason)Dunstall … They are out-and-out champions and he's got a lot of time toprove that, but he's only a young bloke, he's powerful, he's notsix-foot-six, he's the traditional front-end player that's got greatstrength, great kicking power, plays for his teammates and kicks goals,"he said.
"He is as close to those type of players physically any player in the competition.
"Andthat's not taking anything away from Travis Cloke, who is a differentsort of player (and) is probably the best centre half-forward."
Walker has tallied 9.5 from four games this season after slotting a career-best 63 majors from 19 outings last year.
MichaelJamison is certain to have first crack at Walker. Jamison has been interrific form, taking the points against the likes of Richmond's JackRiewoldt, Collingwood's Travis Cloke and West Coast's Josh Kennedyalready this season.
