Jack Riewoldt a chance to play against GWS despite knee injury fears

UPDATE: JACK Riewoldt has trained strongly and may defy fears of a season-ending knee injury to front up against GWS on Sunday.

RICHMOND coach Damien Hardwick has expressed confidence that Jack Riewoldt will be available for Sunday's clash against Greater Western Sydney at Skoda Stadium.

Riewoldt hyperextended his right knee after landing awkwardly in a marking contest during last weekend's loss to Carlton.

The full-forward trained with teammates at Punt Rd today with bandaging around the back and sides of the knee, but if he was experiencing any discomfort he wasn't showing it.

Fully aware that the cameras were trained on him, Riewoldt feigned a limp and refused to kick on his right foot during the early stages of the warm-up.

But as the session wore on he kicked normally, jogged freely and even completed some sprints - easing any fear his injury may put at risk his finals campaign.

Hardwick said Riewoldt had a "small amount of bone bruising'', but also suggested the dual Coleman medallist had played with that type of injury before.

The coach said a decision on whether to play Riewoldt against the Giants would be made after training.

"He's a pretty durable character, Jack,'' Hardwick said.

"So he'll train today and if he gets through training he'll be OK to play. He'll do a bit of running around, we'll see how he pulls up and we'll go from there.

"Obviously, he's an important player to us so we won't put him at any risk of further damage, but he's very, very durable ... so hopefully he's available to play.''

Hardwick admitted the nature of Riewoldt's fall had made him nervous.

"When you see that sort of hyperextension you're never quite sure what's going to happen,'' he said.

"So we were really pleased that he actually went back out and played, for one. But as soon as he did it your heart did skip a beat, no doubt.''

The Tigers are expecting to welcome back a host of key players this week with Chris Newman, Shane Edwards, Jake King and Matt White all in line for possible recalls.