NORTH Melbourne ruckman Todd Goldstein is confident he'll overcome a badly bruised left shoulder in time to take on the Western Bulldogs on Sunday afternoon.
Goldstein injured his shoulder during the first quarter of North's lacklustre 39-point loss to Essendon last Friday night, but scans the following day cleared him of any structural damage.
The Roos' No. 1 ruckman trained on Tuesday and said his shoulder had improved significantly with rest and physiotherapy.
"I'm very confident (of playing)," Goldstein told NMFC.com.au on Wednesday.
"When the scans came back that there was no structural damage, that was a big plus. With just a corky or something like that in there, it will take a couple of days to clear up. By the end of the week, I should be feeling pretty good.
"They'll put me into some contested stuff probably Thursday or Friday, but other than that it's just making sure I get my physio and my rehab done and I'll be ready to go come Sunday."
Goldstein was not sure how he injured his shoulder, but said the club doctor initially thought he had torn a muscle.
"We're not exactly sure how it happened. We think possibly a whack to the shoulder in a marking contest, but I don't remember any contact," Goldstein said.
"(I was in) a fair bit of pain. I couldn't really lift my arm above my shoulders or I had a shooting pain go down my arm.
"On the night, the doctor thought I had torn something, but he was pretty confident no matter what I did it wasn't going to get any worse than it was at that point, so it was safe for me to continue."
