RICHMOND star midfielder Brett Deledio is no certainty to play against Collingwood on Sunday, coach Damien Hardwick says.
 
Deledio returned to the Tigers' line-up against North Melbourne in Hobart last weekend for his first match since the season opener against Carlton. He managed around 70 minutes of game time.
 
The dual best-and-fairest winner has been battling a lingering calf complaint, aggravated in round one against the Blues, and Hardwick described him as a week-by-week proposition.
 
"He's pulled up OK. We'll see how he goes through training today (Thursday) and hopefully he can play a full game this week," Hardwick said.
 
"The fact of the matter is that he's got an injury that at various stages we're not quite sure of the consistency of how it pulls up after every game which is frustrating from Brett's point of view and ours. 

"We've got to take it on a week-by-week basis at this stage." 

Doubt has also been cast over key forward Ben Griffiths' availability after he was concussed against the Kangaroos.

Hardwick was hopeful Griffiths would line up against the Magpies, but said any decision about whether he plays would be made if and when he passed his concussion test.

"He'll have his concussion test at some stage. He'll train today (Thursday) and we'll see how he is," Hardwick said.

"It was a pretty solid knock. That's in the doctors' hands. We don't make that call."

Veteran Tiger Chris Newman is also a 50/50 chance of facing the Magpies after injuring his hip flexor against the Roos.

However, big forward Ty Vickery will come into the selection mix after a solid game in the VFL in which he booted three goals.

Developing forward Liam McBean also kicked five majors at VFL level.

"He (Vickery) played pretty well at VFL level last week and he has certainly put his hand up to play again," Hardwick said.

"He was probably unlucky in regards to selection last week. We felt we need some coverage down back if North’s key forwards got out of hand, so we played Dave Astbury in front of him in that situation.

"He’ll come up for selection today."

Hardwick also said veteran midfielder Nathan Foley was three to four weeks away from making a return as he continued to battle knee soreness.

Young midfielder Reece Conca will play in the VFL this weekend after overcoming a hamstring issue.