GANMAIN-Grong Grong-Matong forward Riley Corbett is confident he can make a remarkable return from a broken foot to be fit for selection for Saturday's preliminary final against Leeton-Whitton as the Lions weigh up their options to replace injured spearhead Nick Murray.
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Corbett's season looked over after he limped off during a one-point loss to Wagga Tigers in round two, but could be an ideal straight swap for Murray, who broke his collarbone in the final seconds of last week's elimination final win over Mangoplah-Cookardinia United-Eastlakes.
Coolamon recruit Liam Delahunty, yet to play a senior match this year, is another option, with the Lions' reserves to play the Goannas in the preliminary final.
However Corbett said he won't play unless he's fully fit and ready to do everything required in a do-or-die final with a grand final spot at stake.
"I'm doing everything possible to get it right and I trained alright I thought late last week. It's not quite 100 per cent, but hopefully this week I can get it there," Corbett said on Tuesday.
"It actually feels pretty good but it depends how I go with the contact. I'm pretty confident it will be right, it feels good and pulled up pretty well.
"I'm sure they will want to make sure it's 100 per cent before they think about putting me in. You don't want someone who's not right playing, and you might get hurt in the first quarter and be out for the rest of the game.
"Last week I thought I was a chance but if I did play and I wasn't right and we were a man down on the bench, it would have been a big disadvantage for us.
"We'll test it out to the max and see how it goes."
Lions coach Christin Macri was confident Corbett would be available for selection when asked about his progress after Sunday's win.
"He's been pestering me for a couple of weeks now and he trained really strongly this week, so I certainly would be anticipating he'll be playing next week provided all goes well the next six days," Macri said.
With AFL Riverina Championship rules stipulating players must play three games to qualify for finals, the Lions were forced to sit an injured Corbett on their reserve grade bench in the last round to ensure he was available.
Corbett said he felt "helpless" in the 19-point loss to Turvey Park, and believes the rule should be changed so players with long term injuries can still qualify for finals.
"I think it should be changed. There should be a bit of common sense," he said.
"It's probably different if I had gone somewhere else to play and had come back, but I was always going to play at Ganmain if I wasn't injured.
"Our twos ended up losing that week because we had one less on the bench, and I was sitting there feeling helpless."
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