MELBOURNE will investigate Jack Viney's extensive foot problems at season's end, but the Demons co-captain has no concerns that it will impact his return this weekend.
Viney has played just seven games all year due to stress injuries in his foot and
It will be Viney's first game in exactly two months, having suffered debilitating setbacks to his troublesome foot after undergoing surgery to fix the initial injury in July last year.
However, on the eve of the do-or-die final, the midfielder does not believe his latest flare-up will hamper his return, nor impact on the club's first finals campaign in 12 years.
"I'm not stressing about it too hard," Viney told reporters on Thursday.
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"But for the short-term, I'm pretty confident with it. I'm really happy with how it's feeling and tracking."
Viney returned to full training on Saturday, taking part in full contact drills in an effort to prove his fitness ahead of Friday night's crucial encounter in front of a sold-out MCG crowd.
He revealed that his body pulled up fine from the exhaustive session, crediting rehabilitation coach Daniel Cross for his recovery and reiterating he has no concerns over his fitness.
"I'm really confident that I'll be able to hit the ground running," Viney said.
"I'm confident in my ability, so I feel like I'll be able to get out there and my match fitness will be good.
"I'll be trying to find the tempo of the game pretty early. But once I find it, I think I'll fit in pretty nicely."
Viney was absent as a young Melbourne side overturned a nervous couple of weeks to book its spot in September with a gritty victory over West Coast at Optus Stadium last month.
While he said it was frustrating to be sidelined as the Demons qualified for the finals, he admitted it was far better than the alternative, which he endured last year.
Viney returned early from surgery to repair a plantar fascia injury, missing just two games, but was severely underdone and ultimately suffered a recurrence of the problem.
The injury came as Melbourne lost its final game of the year to miss the finals, making the 24-year-old realise he has learned from his mistakes just 12 months later.
"It was frustrating," Viney said.
"I want to play football and I want to be out there. You could see the team building, so to be on the sidelines watching it, it's frustrating. You'd much rather be out there.
"But at the same time, it is what it is. I was in a pretty similar position last year, where I did the opposite and pushed it and I didn't come off good for it.
"You learn from your mistakes and that made me pretty content to sit and watch and try to get my body right hopefully for finals to roll around, which it has.
"I'm very thankful and grateful for that and my body is feeling good."
