Livewire Melbourne forward Russell Robertson appears set to make his return to competitive football this weekend, Demons coach Dean Bailey said on Tuesday.

Barring a change of mind later in the week from the Melbourne brains trust, Robertson will line up for the Casey Scorpions against Coburg in a VFL practice match on Sunday.

The match will be Robertson's first since rupturing his Achilles tendon in Round 10 against St Kilda last year.

"Robbo will probably play this week for Casey, if not this week then next week," Bailey said.

"Russell's very excited about playing. He's bouncing around at training so I hope he can sleep during the week."

"The game means a helluva lot to him."

Despite the 'excitement factor about putting a magnet up on the board', Bailey said Robertson was likely to need at least two matches under his belt at VFL level before being considered for senior selection.

That means he is unlikely to break into the ones until Round 4 at the earliest.

But given the VFL home and away season does not start until Easter, Robertson may need even more time in the second-tier competition before breaking his way back to the ones.

"When you play the games at Casey you don't want them to be thinking about an injury," Bailey said.

"You want to feel like you can play … be very proactive and not think I'm not sure whether I can do that, I'm not sure whether I can jump, I'm not sure if I can sprint here."

At this stage, Bailey said, the injury had robbed Robertson of his tremendous leap.

"He's a very powerful athlete anyway," he said. "He's done a lot of leg weights in the gym and worked on his Achilles. That becomes a real confidence thing for him, I think."

Seasoned duo Matthew Whelan and Paul Wheatley, both recovering from calf injuries, were also chances to resume in the VFL either this week or the week after, Bailey said.

Second-year forward Austin Wonaeamirri will miss another fortnight after re-injuring his hamstring last week.