Greater Western Sydney coach Leon Cameron is optimistic his injury-plagued veterans Brett Deledio and Ryan Griffen will play a part in the back half of their AFL campaign.
Midfielder Griffen suffered a syndesmosis injury in round three and re-injured the ankle in training last weekend, ruling him out for three more months.
Former Richmond star Deledio has been plagued by calf issues since being traded to GWS late last year.
Cameron has studiously avoided nominating a time frame for Deledio's return, but on Wednesday hinted he might be back in action a couple of weeks after their bye next week.
He will rejoin the Giants main training group on Thursday for at least part of their key session of the week.
"He's going to do a little bit of training tomorrow, and then progress from there and where that leads to, whether that's one week, two weeks after the bye, hopefully there's no hiccups," Cameron said.
"But we're mindful it's been a really slow process so we'll continue to take it slow with him. If that means getting him ready to play footy at the back end of the year.
"But he's in a really good positive mindset and so are we. We're heading in the right direction with him.
"But he's got to get through probably at least two to three weeks of good footy training before he actually rolls out and plays."
Cameron was bullish about Griffen's prospects even though the time frame for his recovery means he is unlikely to be back much before the finals.
"If anyone is going to get back Griff will get back, he works hard," Cameron said.
"I'm really confident he'll get back to play a role for our footy club, whether that's the back end of the home and away season or hopefully we're playing finals, and it's on the eve of the finals."
Cameron said ruckman-forward Rory Lobb (groin) was touch and go for Sunday's game with Carlton at Etihad Stadium.
Veteran forward Steve Johnson (knee), who like Lobb has missed the last two games, is a chance to return against the Blues provided he comes through Thursday's training session.
The Giants confirmed on Wednesday that 2016 first-round draft picks Tim Taranto, Will Setterfield and Harry Perryman had each signed a two-year extension tying them to the club until the end of the 2020 season.
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