Brett Deledio to miss Richmond’s clash against Collingwood with ongoing quad injury

RICHMOND will again be without Brett Deledio on Friday night, with coach Damien Hardwick even flagging a potential return to football via the VFL.

RICHMOND TRAINING ... Brett Deledio Picture : Mike Keating

RICHMOND will again be without midfield star Brett Deledio on Friday night, with coach Damien Hardwick even flagging a potential return to football via the VFL.

Deledio injured his quad during the NAB Challenge and is still struggling to kick, with ruckman Ivan Maric also remaining sidelined.

It had been reported Deledio was set to face a fitness test at Punt Road on Thursday, but he wasn’t sighted.

Hardwick says while he’d love to say Deledio will be back for Round 3, he isn’t sure.

“I’d like to say he’d play next week but then he has only played a half over the course of the pre-season thus far,” he said.

“We don’t have the luxury of the sub anymore which is in my opinion a good thing but it probably goes against Brett. He might play his first VFL game for a period of time.

“He’s running pretty much at full speed. The problem is kicking ... when he does that he’s still got a bit of pain, so we’ve got to make sure we don’t push him and make sure he’s right.”

In better news, Shaun Grigg will return after suffering a broken thumb in the team’s final NAB Challenge hitout.

The Tigers face Collingwood on Friday night and are looking to fire after what Hardwick admits - despite getting the four points - was a sub-par performance against Carlton last week.

“We reviewed it as a loss. We’d lose most weeks playing that,” he said.

Originally published as Brett Deledio to miss Richmond’s clash against Collingwood with ongoing quad injury