Sylvia missed the Queen’s Birthday draw with Collingwood with the toe injury but trained with the main group on Thursday morning in the lead up to Sunday’s clash with Adelaide.
Melbourne coach Dean Bailey said the club would closely monitor Sylvia’s recovery from Thursday’s session before deciding whether or not to bring him back in.
“Col should be training out here and hopefully he can get through training again. Hopefully he can get through without too much discomfort,” Bailey said.
“He’s missed a bit of training the last couple of weeks so you don’t want to rush him back in, but you want to see if he can get through training comfortably. Again, 24 hours after you train is the best time so hopefully he won’t pull up sore.”
James McDonald seems less likely to return from his hamstring injury.
McDonald trained away from the main group on Thursday and Bailey said he was unsure if he would be available to take on the Crows.
“I reckon he’s probably 50-50. He’s actually come really good this week. When you’ve got a hamstring it’s that final four or five days before the game that you really start to improve significantly,” Bailey said.
“We’ll put him through some paces today and we’ll see how he goes on Friday as well. We’ll try to leave him up to the last minute ... but he’s showing some good signs at the moment.
“Generally when you’re looking at a hamstring you’re looking at the main session and how you pull up. If he pulls up a bit sore or he’s not quite confident then we’ll have an answer probably tomorrow.”
Bailey said the Demons were determined to start strongly against the Crows, conscious of its recent slow starts to matches.
“We've got to get some intensity back and probably make some tackles stick in the first five minutes”, he said.
“We’ve spoken about that over the last two or three weeks and it’s only a matter of making sure it gets done.”
Bailey also acknowledged Melbourne’s recent poor form on the road but said there was every chance the Demons could secure another interstate win just four weeks after defeating Port Adelaide at TIO Stadium in Darwin.
“Our form in AAMI, from a history point of view, is not very good but there’s nothing like the present to change it. We had a good win up in Darwin and there’s no reason why we can’t go over there and be more than competitive on Sunday.”
