IN EXCITING news for Dees fans, Christian Salem will be available for selection this weekend.

The defender has been sidelined from play for much of 2023, pushing through a thyroid concern at the beginning of the year, before his return was delayed further with a knee injury.

High Performance Manager Selwyn Griffith praised Salem for his resilience and commitment to his rehabilitation program.

“He’s had a fantastic block of re-conditioning,” Griffith told Melbourne Media.

“He’s been back training with the main group for two weeks now, completing full sessions.

“[He completed] match-load running on the weekend, and he’ll train fully this week, to be available for selection."

In other injury news, Tom McDonald will work towards availability this week after an ankle sprain ruled him out of play last weekend.

“He had sustained an ankle sprain a couple weeks ago and was able to get himself up for the Box Hill game in the VFL, and we were confident that he would continue to progress to be available for the weekend,” Griffith said.

“Unfortunately, he just wasn’t able to feel comfortable for our main training session…so we used the weekend just to allow that to settle and he’ll re-integrate into training this week.”

Luke Dunstan will be out of action for three to five weeks, with the Demon confirmed to have sustained a medial ligament strain during Round 6 of the VFL.

“He’s progressed well, and we’ll look to integrate him into running this week,” Griffith said.

“We’ll progress him session by session and then hopefully we’ll have a bit more news on him in the coming days.”

Young Demons Kye Turner (groin) and Will Verrall (pelvis) are both continue to move forward through their respective training schedules, with the hopes that both would be available in the coming five to six weeks.