Hardwick bullish on Prestia finals impact

Prestia went through complications after surgery on his ankle syndesmosis injury and has not played a senior match since round five.

But the Tigers' reigning best-and-fairest has impressed at training and in match simulation over the past few days.

He has been cleared to play against Brisbane at the Gabba on Friday night.

"He was very good in our scrimmage that we had on the weekend and trained strongly again today," Hardwick said on Monday.

"He hasn't played for a long period of time but he's got a fair base behind him.

"He's been in the system for 10-odd years, so he's got a good understanding of what he can and can't do.

"The shortened quarters and the same numbers of interchange will certainly be of benefit, but we're very confident he'll play a good brand of footy for us."

Key forward Tom Lynch (hamstring) is also pushing to return from injury and resumed high-speed running over the weekend.

He ticked another box on Monday when he completed everything required of him at a skills session on the Gold Coast.

"We'll have another session on Wednesday which will answer a few more of those questions, but at the moment it's looking promising," Hardwick said.

"He's obviously a very important player to the way we structure up and the way we play.

"Our medical staff will make the right call, whether they deem it's appropriate that he plays or not."

Hardwick said Mabior Chol and Josh Caddy are leading the race to take Lynch's spot if Richmond's equal-leading goalkicker is not passed fit.

It will then come down to a question of structure as the Tigers weigh up how many talls to take into the match.

"We've got an ideal look that it may be, but that's not to say that it won't differ with different personnel with those guys coming back," Hardwick said.

"We're working our way through that at this stage.

"We'll wait until we've got some more information with regards to Tom and how he progresses on Wednesday."

Australian Associated Press