Richmond coach Damien Hardwick has declared Brett Deledio's modified pre-season campaign a success, with the star veteran well placed to play every game this AFL season.
The 28-year-old has an ongoing Achilles-calf complaint that has required careful management but he'll take a significant step in his preparation when he plays a half of Thursday night's NAB Challenge match against Port Adelaide.
"We've had a pretty conservative approach with Brett but we're looking forward to putting him on the park," Hardwick said on Tuesday.
"My expectation is that he'll play every game ... we've managed it over the past two to three years so it's something that we're familiar with.
"It's one of those things he'll have to manage for the remainder of his career but we're pretty confident that our medical staff have got a good grasp of it and they're confident he'll get through the whole year."
Deledio played 140 consecutive games before the onset of the issue with his importance to the side underlined in his absence, the Tigers losing seven of the nine games he missed in the past two seasons.
In further good news for Richmond, star recruit Chris Yarran has launched himself into calculations for the round one team to play Carlton after impressing on the training track in recent weeks.
Yarran has laboured with a calf issue since crossing from the Blues at the end of last season and wasn't expected to feature at AFL level until after round six.
"He has come on ... he's come on very well," Hardwick said.
"His training loads have increased, his ability to cover the ground has improved so he's thereabouts. He's made some huge inroads in the last two to three weeks, which is great.
"He's surprised all of us and we're looking forward to him playing some footy hopefully early in the season."
Tyrone Vickery, who didn't play last week as he recovered from a concussion, has been cleared to resume and was named in the squad to face the Power, with Shaun Hampson (ankle) also included for his first game of the pre-season while lead ruckman Ivan Maric was rested.
Exciting forward Mabior Chol will play his third game of the NAB Challenge, further enhancing his chances of being elevated off the rookie list ahead of round one.
Port also named a strong squad, including Chad Wingard and Charlie Dixon for their first games of the pre-season.
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