JOEL BOWDEN is back, and there are plenty of others waiting in the wings to join him in the senior team.

The 29-year-old has been playing for Coburg for the last month, although not in his customary defensive positions, and has been named on the wing for the AFL side this weekend.

Assistant coach Brian Royal said Bowden had ticked all the right boxes in his VFL stint.

"It's been four weeks now, and he's been in really good form at Coburg," he said. "He's been playing multiple positions, playing in the midfield and playing forward, so no doubt tomorrow you'll be seeing him playing those positions."

Royal said the fact that Bowden, a dual Jack Dyer Medallist and dual All-Australian, could spend a month in the VFL was an indicator that nobody could take their spot in the team for granted.

"I think what it does show is that the depth of the Richmond Football Club is now at a stage where players don't get played continually when they don't deserve opportunities, and that goes for the best player in the team down to our first-year players.

"We're in a fantastic position with the Richmond footy club with the depth of our list."

Jarrad Oakley-Nicholls and Trent Cotchin, each taken as the Tigers' first pick in the NAB AFL National Drafts of 2005 and 2007 respectively, are both close to AFL selection, but Andrew Raines is fighting to regain full fitness after knee problems.

"He's [Oakley-Nicholls] very close, he's in terrific form at Coburg at the moment, and I wouldn't expect he's too far off as well. But again, there's a lot of players back there – [Greg] Tivendale and [Kane] Pettifer, to name a couple, who are also putting their hand up to play – and young Trent Cotchin – so spots are pretty hard to get."