Hawthorn Coach Alastair Clarkson hinted that boom recruit Jaeger O'Meara may return to AFL level before season's end.
The Hawks still have a mathematical (albeit unlikely) chance of making the finals after beating North Melbourne by 27 points in Launceston on Sunday.
Having battled with injury all season, O'Meara starred in the VFL for Box Hill against Essendon on Saturday.
He sat out the final term due to the club's decision to closely manage his workload as he nears a return to the AFL.
"He played really well at Box Hill yesterday," Clarkson said of the 23-year-old midfielder.
"He played about 70 minutes of footy or thereabouts which was our plan.
"He didn't play the last quarter which was unfortunate… he wanted to play but when you've got him set around game time it was really important we complied with that."
The former Gold Coast star has managed just four games since arriving from the Suns and while he is a chance to be named for next weekend's clash with Carlton at Etihad Stadium, Clarkson was reluctant to commit before having a chance to properly assess O'Meara's recovery.
"From all reports, he has just got a bit of soreness around having not played for a long period of time but he's pulled up well," Clarkson said.
"We just want him playing footy and don't really care whether it's at Box Hill or Hawthorn. We'll work (selection) out in the middle of the week some time.
"Probably more likely the final round. We'll just wait and see how he recovers and how he progresses from the game."
Watch: O'Meara's VFL highlights
While having a fit and firing O'Meara available would be an obvious boon for the Hawks, Clarkson said he was pleased with the progress being shown by a number of unheralded Hawks who have had their chance to shine in 2017 due to the absence of more established stars.
The master coach was particularly happy with the way his new-look defence had been able to stand up in recent weeks with the likes of Josh Gibson, Ben Stratton and Grant Birchall all missing for the Hawks.
"Our defence, quite deliberately, has been switched upside down in the last eight or 10 weeks and that's to deliberately give those young players some exposure so that we've got multiple options in our back end in particular when it comes to selecting our side," he said.
"That recalibration of our side has probably been going on for the best part of the last 18 months, but in particular the last six months and we'll continue to give some of these young guys an opportunity and we'll look to explore whether a couple of players can come in next week to get some exposure and see where we go from there."
Read: Match report Round 21 Hawthorn v North Melbourne
Images courtesy of Kadek Thatcher photography
