COACH Simon Goodwin has put Demons fans at ease, all but confirming the return of Harrison Petty who looks to have recovered from a nasty rib injury.

Petty, who was absent from last week's clash against Adelaide after being subbed out in the previous two games, looks to have ticked all boxes necessary and pending a main training session, is seeking a return to the backline this Sunday. 

Goodwin also provided updates on Clayton Oliver and Brodie Grundy, who is progressing in his new role at VFL level, whilst also anticipating what should be a mouthwatering clash against Richmond this weekend.

Harrison Petty’s Return

“We're really confident with Harrison. We think he'll be right to play," Goodwin says

“Everything suggests that he's training over the weekend and everything he's done early in the week [that] he's going to be fine to play and he'll be available for selection.

“He's one guy that will be looking to get back into our team pretty quickly.”

Sunday Against Richmond

“It's going to be a great game of footy with lots to play for and the stakes are high,” Goodwin said.

“They haven't changed too much in terms of their method. They still play a really high transition, fast offense type of game, but there's no doubt they're a little bit smaller ahead of the ball.

“They're playing some really exciting footy and they're certainly back to their best and a lot of their senior players are playing some really strong footy.

“[It’s] going to be a tough challenge for us. We're looking forward to it.”

Brodie Grundy

"He's working incredibly hard on his game of getting some forward exposure last week at VFL level, which we're really encouraged about,” Goodwin stated

“We love the ruck combination and what we're trying to do is get a bigger impact when either of the rucks are forward of centre, and Brodie is a big part of that.

“He's got a greater understanding and we can just see with the extra time that he spent [at VFL level] , the synergy and the ability to impact with patterns was there.

“All along we've said we think this can work and we're going to work incredibly hard to make sure it does.”

Clayton Oliver

“He's progressing well… we're not going to put an exact time on it. But he's definitely progressing well,” Goodwin says

“He's doing a lot of full training now and we're confident that he's not that far away… we're hopeful that in the next 2 to 3 weeks that he'll be putting his hand up for selection.

“We've got to get him up to make sure he's really comfortable hitting those markers.

“Both Clayton and the high performance team will know when his body is right to go. And at that point we'll have a fit Clayton Oliver back playing footy.”