Richmond are hopeful Tom Lynch could return immediately after their AFL bye but will take a cautious approach to rehabilitating their leading goalkicker's latest hamstring injury.
Lynch and premiership teammate Kane Lambert (hip soreness) have been ruled out of Friday night's crunch clash with Sydney, having failed to see out the 32-point win over Essendon in round 10.
Jack Graham is likely to return from a toe issue against the Swans, while Noah Balta (hamstring) is on track to be available to play against Port Adelaide in round 13.
It is also hoped Lynch will play against the Power, after scans on Sunday revealed a "mild strain" in his lower left hamstring.
It is in a similar spot to the injury that set the key forward back during pre-season.
"It's not in the same spot, but given it's in close proximity we need to take a bit of extra care," Richmond physical performance manger Peter Burge said.
"It's actually pulled up really well, he's running today (Monday) and we feel like it's going to turn around pretty quickly."
Burge said Richmond will have a look at Lynch's fitness program to determine whether any changes need to be made in order to keep the Coleman Medal contender on the park during the back half of the campaign.
Lambert missed the start of the season with a hip injury and played four straight matches on return.
He was substituted out of the Essendon game through soreness and the Tigers anticipate he may be sidelined again at stages later in the year.
"We kind of expected we would have a situation where he would have to miss games," Burge said.
"He did unbelievably well to play four in a row.
"We didn't expect it to be as sore on (Saturday) night (because) he trained last Thursday and was feeling quite good, but it's a little bit unpredictable.
"But Kane himself flagged that he was struggling and it was getting sorer.
"So, really now it's a situation where he needs a little bit more recovery time for that hip to settle over the bye."
Richmond (6-4) have won their last four games to surge into the top-eight ahead of the clash with Sydney at the SCG.
