TWO RICHMOND premiership players are racing the clock to be fit for finals, with Kane Lambert and Dan Butler both undergoing minor surgery for ankle syndesmosis sprains.

The hard-running Lambert injured his ankle early during Richmond's 74-point thumping of Gold Coast on Saturday but played out the match to finish with 25 disposals and six inside 50s.

"He played out the game, but probably wasn't able to run as well as he normally would," the club's physical performance manager Peter Burge told richmondfc.com.au.

"He was a little bit inhibited and came in yesterday limping. So we had that scanned, and it came out that he's got a partial syndesmosis sprain in his ankle.

"He went into some minor surgery [on Monday] morning to put some reinforcement onto the ankle. Right now, he's probably going to miss the next two weeks and we're going to prepare him for the first final."

Butler hasn't played since round 16 with a similar syndesmosis injury to Lambert and had minor surgery on Friday.

"He'd been progressing and building his speed and running about 95 per cent, but still with a bit of a limp and still not full power," Burge said.

"So last Friday he went in and had the same minor surgery that Kane had this morning, which means he's going to miss probably the next two games. We're preparing him for the first final at this stage."

In better news for Richmond, ruckman Toby Nankervis should be fine to face Essendon on Friday night.

"Toby had a quad cork from the game the week before (against Geelong). He was a little bit sore during the week and we just took the opportunity [to rest him], but he'll be good to go this week," Burge said.

Reece Conca's comeback in the VFL from a dislocated ankle nearly ended in tears, after he rolled his "good" ankle.

"Reece was down to play 70 minutes of the VFL game, and with four of those minutes to go, he sprained his ankle quite badly.

"He walked in yesterday feeling not too bad and today he's even better. So, right now, he's some chance of being available to play this week, but more than likely will miss just one game."

Running defender Oleg Markov (knee) has started running and may return for the first week of the VFL finals (which is the AFL bye weekend), but while the luckless Nathan Drummond (hamstring) jogged for the first time on Monday, he is less likely to play this year.

Livewire forward Shai Bolton is due to start running at the end of the week after an arthroscope and clean-up of his meniscus. The Tigers hope he will still feature in the club's VFL finals campaign.

The VFL team has a bye this week, while the AFL side face Essendon on Friday night.

Connor Menadue (19 disposals, eight marks in the VFL) is one who could come in for Lambert, while Sam Lloyd (16 and 12 tackles) is another option.