St Kilda is hopeful star goalsneak Stephen Milne will play in Sunday's crunch game against Adelaide despite the small forward sustaining a fractured cheekbone against Fremantle last Sunday.
Milne played out the rest of the game despite severe swelling to the right side of his face, which eventually closed his right eye. So serious was his injury that he was not allowed to fly home and instead made the marathon 3400 kilometre trip by a combination of road and train.
The 28-year-old did not arrive back in Melbourne until Wednesday night and underwent surgery on Thursday morning - where a metal plate was inserted into his face.
But the Saints had no hesitation in naming Milne on Thursday night with the club saying they expect their number one small forward to improve significantly over the next 48 hours.
"Stephen has recovered well and after careful consideration by the doctors may be able to play this weekend," St Kilda football operations manager Matthew Drain said.
However Milne told Channel Ten that realistically he was looking to return for the round 22 clash against Essendon.
"It (his facial swelling) has gone down heaps - it looks a lot worse than it feels so hopefully I will just miss the one week," he said.
The Saints are yet to make a change to their side, so far adding Xavier Clarke, Shane Birss and Jarryd Allen to the side that won in Perth for a game that could secure the Saints' place in the finals this season.
The Crows also added three players to the 22 that beat Essendon last week in Chris Knights, Andrew Otten and Kurt Tippett.
Meanwhile Collingwood chose not to select bad boy Rhyce Shaw, even though the running defender was available for Saturday night's home game against Sydney after completing his two match club-imposed ban for his role in the drinking session which saw star pair Alan Didak and Heath Shaw suspended for the rest of the season.
The Pies lost Dale Thomas to a calf injury with Sharrod Wellingham taking his place while the Swans welcomed back full-back Leo Barry, who has been out since round 16 with a hamstring injury.
An ominous-looking Geelong - already winners of 38 of their past 40 matches and overwhelming favourites for successive flags - have bought back star trio Darren Milburn, Paul Chapman and Matthew Scarlett for Sunday's match of the round clash against the Kangaroos.
The in-form Roos also received a boost with the return of number one ruckman Hamish McIntosh, who is back for his first game since injuring his knee in round 12, while spearhead Nathan Thompson was also named in the squad.
Melbourne has bought back veteran pair Jeff White and Adem Yze for what could be their farewell games for Saturday's trip to Port Adelaide.
The ageing pair have played just 17 games between them this season while Port welcomed back two key players from injury in ruckman Dean Brogan and veteran forward Daniel Motlop.
A decimated Essendon side - which has just 24 fit players to choose from for Friday night's game against the Bulldogs - has bought back 30-year-old veteran Jason Johnson for only his third game this year, in what shapes as his last game, while second gamer Tom Bellchambers will assume the number one ruck duties in the absence of injured ruckman Jason Laycock (ankle) and David