MELBOURNE coach Simon Goodwin insists in-form forward Tom McDonald is a strong chance to face Adelaide on the weekend, despite being sent off for scans on his foot following a training scare on Thursday.

During Demons training, McDonald had some treatment on the same foot that sidelined him for the first five rounds of the season.

McDonald then went to kick a footy before pulling up sore. He was then taken off Gosch’s Paddock via a golf cart.

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Finals Week 1

Goodwin said the move to pull McDonald, who’s booted 13 goals from his past four games, off the track was a precaution and wouldn’t take any risks with him.

The Dees coach on Thursday revealed that McDonald would again undergo scans, but said he was confident he’d face Adelaide in Alice Springs on Sunday.

“We’re pretty confident that — we’ve still got some training ahead — he’ll be right to play as it stands today. But we certainly won’t be taking any risks with Tom,” Goodwin told reporters.

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“He’s still working his way back. We’ve been really monitoring his loads, he was a still a bit sore from the game on the weekend. But in saying that, we’re comfortable that it might settle down as well.

“He didn’t have to do the full session today, he’s gone off for a scan and we’ll check all that out.”

“Of course it’s worrying because you’ve got a player that’s in really good form that hasn’t trained. But at the same time, as it stands right now, he’s confident in his own mind that with a couple more days and training on Saturday that he’ll be right to go.”

Goodwin said the plan was still to take McDonald to the Northern Territory and participate in a training session on Saturday.

More to come