Star recruit Tom Lynch remains hopeful of making his Richmond debut in a blockbuster round-one setting at the MCG after ramping up his training loads.
Few games loom larger on the AFL calendar than the annual Richmond-Carlton season opener, which drew more than 90,000 fans last year.
Lynch, who underwent knee surgery in July, will miss both of the Tigers' pre-season games and has been held back from full match simulation training.
But having spent eight years off-Broadway with struggling Gold Coast, Lynch is determined to put his hand up to face the Blues on March 21.
"I'm not sure at the moment but I'll be very close if I miss out," Lynch told reporters at the Tigers' community camp in Albury.
"Over my career I haven't played many games at the 'G so it would be pretty exciting playing out there in round one.
"I've been in and out of drills at the moment. I started my competitive work last week and over the next couple of weeks I'll really look to be ramping that up."
Lynch departed the Suns as a free agent at the end of last season, joining Richmond on a multi-million dollar, seven-year deal.
The 26-year-old had an additional procedure in November to clean up his troublesome right knee and has been slowly ramping up his rehabilitation.
"I knew when I had the surgery initially that it was going to be a long time and we had to be patient with it," Lynch said.
"Richmond have been really good. They said 'just take it slow, we want to build. It's not about straight away, you'e got a long future ahead'.
"The last month has been really exciting to be able to get out there with the boys and start training."
The 199cm Lynch is set to bring a different look to a Richmond forward line which has revolved around fellow key forward Jack Riewoldt and a selection of smalls.
The 2017 premiers will warm up for the regular season by taking on Melbourne in Shepparton on Sunday before travelling to Launceston to face Hawthorn.
Round-one opponents Carlton will be without key defender Caleb Marchbank (back) for the season-opener but veteran Marc Murphy has overcome a knee issue and is available for Thursday's practice match against the Hawks.
