Richmond livewire Sydney Stack has resumed running on an anti-gravity treadmill, taking a small step towards an unlikely AFL finals return.
The 19-year-old underwent surgery early last week after suffering a syndesmosis injury while playing in the VFL.
Richmond are yet to put a line through Stack for the finals, although he is only a small chance of recovering in time and won’t be unnecessarily risked.
The hope is he could replicate teammate Kane Lambert, who suffered a similar injury a week earlier last year but managed to return for the finals.
“I’ll hopefully be back for finals this year but if not, I’ll bounce back next year,” Stack told AAP at the AFL Rising Star event on Friday.
“I just got out of the moon boot and now I’m walking, which is good. I’ll just keep doing my rehab and see what the doc says.”
Having been overlooked in the draft in his native Western Australia, Stack has been outstanding for the Tigers in his debut campaign.
Stack is one of three Richmond players nominated for the Rising Star this year along with Liam Baker and Shai Bolton.
Baker and Bolton are highly likely to play in Friday week’s qualifying final against Brisbane Lions at the Gabba with the Tigers a good chance to name an unchanged lineup.
“They’ve been playing pretty good footy,” Stack said.
“They play for their roles for the team … the Richmond club itself is a good environment for the lads.”