Liam Jones is a chance to return for the Western Bulldogs this weekend after recovering well from a knee injury that he sustained a fortnight ago.
The Bulldogs defender was initially expected to miss up to a month after pulling up sore from the game against North Melbourne in Round 17.
Subsequent scans revealed a moderate-grade medial ligament injury, but after missing the Bulldogs' clashes against Carlton and Geelong over the past two weeks the 33-year-old could be set for a return against Sydney at the SCG this Sunday afternoon.
The Kija man will have to prove his fitness at training this week, with the Bulldogs' Head of Sports Medicine, Chris Bell saying Jones is "progressing well".
"Liam Jones has been progressing well following his medial ligament knee injury," Bell said.
"He has pulled up well after completing a match parameters training session on Saturday.
"He still needs to tick some boxes for us during our main training session on Friday before we can confirm his availability for this weekend."
Jones is currently sitting on 194 career games and will need to play in at least one finals game if he is to reach the 200-game milestone in 2024.
The veteran defender joined the Bulldogs' leadership group at the beginning of the season.
In other injury news, Hawthorn's Chad Wingard is reportedly making strong progress in his recovery after a calf strain he sustained during a training session earlier this month.
The Hawks' High Performance Manager, Peter Burge said Wingard is one or two weeks away from a return.
"He's running pain-free, symptom-free and awareness-free, it's really now just getting a little mini conditioning training phase into him," he said
"We are looking at the VFL game at the end of next week.
"He'll miss this weekend and potentially next week, which is one game before the VFL bye, so at this stage, that's the plan but there will be a bit more work to do before we make that final decision."
Wingard has played seven games in the VFL for Box Hill this season with his most recent game a 13-disposal effort against Geelong in Round 15.
The 30-year-old is on the comeback trail after suffering a ruptured Achilles late last year and was building strongly in the VFL, which included a four-goal showing against Essendon in Round 10.
Port Adelaide defender Lachie Jones will be eligible for selection and will exit concussions protocols on Friday while Collingwood key forward Nathan Krueger will miss at least a week after suffering a concussion at the weekend.
Kreuger left the field after sustaining a head knock during the first quarter of the Magpies' loss to Hawthorn on Saturday and will work with the club's medical team to go through the AFL's concussion protocols.
