Richmond are hopeful star midfielder Tim Taranto will be joined by Dustin Martin when the Tigers meet North Melbourne this weekend, with the reigning best and fairest winner suffering a back issue in Sunday's loss to Collingwood to cast some doubt over his Round 21 prospects.
Taranto was subbed out of the 26-point defeat to last year's premiers after reporting back tightness, which he looked to overcome during the contest after noticing the pain in the opening term.
With the ball-winner playing through the ailment, coach Adem Yze moved Taranto out of midfield to get the most out of his side before a call was made to replace Taranto with tactical sub Thomson Dow in the second half.
The back injury came in Taranto's return from concussion, with Yze hoping his gun onballer will be available for Richmond's next game against the Kangaroos.
"He's just got a tight lower back. He tweaked it at the start of the game in the first quarter and it just got worse and worse," Yze said post-game.ย
"He tried to toil away, tried different things, tried to play different positions, he was happy to play full-forward.
"It was too high of a risk. We've got a six-day break going into next week's game and we just needed fit guys out there.
"He was pretty selfless in saying that he needed to get off the ground. Tim should be OK next week."
Defender Daniel Rioli (ankle) shook off his own injury concern and is also expected to face North Melbourne.
Yze is in line to have Martin (back) and captain Toby Nankervis (concussion) back for Saturday's affair at Marvel Stadium in what shapes as a contest that could decide the wooden spoon.
After a promising load period for Martin at training, the triple Norm Smith Medal winner will have a full week on the track to ready himself for a likely return in Round 21.
"Dusty will get through a full week of training. As long as he doesn't flare up (he'll return)," Yze added.
"He's had three sessions now. He had a good session yesterday and got some good volume and now we've got a couple of sessions where we'll be able to get some training load into him and he'll be in a better position to perform.
"I can't see a reason why he wouldn't play next week."
A win over North Melbourne could see the Tigers rise as high as 16th on the ladder, with Yze's side currently sitting last and behind the Kangaroos on percentage only.
The two sides will meet at Marvel Stadium at 1:45pm (AEST) on Saturday.
