Melbourne will weigh up a number of potential changes for their Round 4 bout with West Coast as they prepare to welcome the return of gun forward Kysaiah Pickett from suspension.
After serving his two-game ban for rough conduct, Pickett will link up with the Demons against the Eagles to create further selection dilemmas for senior coach Simon Goodwin.
Pickett's return comes after a fortnight of strong form from small forward trio Kade Chandler, Charlie Spargo and Alex Neal-Bullen, with Goodwin yet to decide whether to omit one of the three goalsneaks or name Pickett in place of a midfielder as the club continues to trial the 21-year-old in the centre of the ground.
Melbourne will be without James Harmes for Sunday's match as the premiership Demon remains away from the club for at least another week due to personal reasons, having missed his side's Round 3 win over Sydney as he takes time away from football.
"He'll miss again with some personal reasons," Goodwin confirmed. "He's got a little bit going on. He's not too far away.
"We feel like he'll be back at the club next week. We're just working with James around that at the moment.
"He's just talking some time away from the game at the moment."
Key forward Ben Brown is no certainty to face West Coast as he continues to nurse a back issue, with the former Kangaroo undergoing a light training load to start this week before a main session on Thursday is required to see if the Demons spearhead is fit for selection.
After being dropped for the Swans match, swingman Tom McDonald will be in the mix for a recall should Brown be sidelined for the coming days. After recording 20 possessions, 11 marks and two goals for Casey, McDonald will be strongly considered to join Jacob van Rooyen in attack.
With Brown still needing to prove his fitness, Goodwin said McDonald is in contention for selection, returning to form after failing to meet standards set by club.
"(Brown) had a really quiet few days since the game, so we certainly won't take any risks," the Demons coach said.
"He's going to train fully today, so we'll see how he pulls up from that. If he pulls up fine we'll put him on the plane and get him over there. If he's not right to go he won't play.
"So we'll just assess that post-training today. We're really clear on what that will look like for him.
"Tom's form prior to last week wasn't to the level that we wanted at AFL footy and he went back to the VFL with an unbelievable mindset. He performed really well, he took five or six really strong contested marks at VFL level and put himself back in selection.
"He's someone that's really valuable to us as a player because of his ability to run and connect and also take contested marks. So he's given himself a chance, he's back in AFL form, I would say, so that gives him a chance to come back into the team, whether it be this week or in the future weeks coming, we'll just assess how that looks.
"It's just good to see him back in good form."
Melbourne will announce their 26-man squad for Sunday's match with the Eagles at 6:20pm on Thursday night before shortening their squad on Friday evening.
