North Melbourne coach Alastair Clarkson has revealed that young midfielder George Wardlaw will make his return from a hamstring injury in the Kangaroos' Good Friday clash against Carlton.
Wardlaw was sidelined on the eve of the home and away season due to an high-grade hamstring strain, however has returned to action in the VFL through the last fortnight, building his conditioning and form before making an AFL return.
While one of those was a scratch match, the other was against Sydney in the VFL's Round 3, with Wardlaw tallying 21 disposals, six tackles and two misfired shots on goal for behinds.
Clarkson said the news was exciting for the 20-year-old, but he will take a conservative approach to ease him back into the side.
"George (Wardlaw) is going to play this week. Of our whole band of early draft picks, this is the first time we've had all these lads together to play in the one side," Clarkson announced on Thursday.
"He hasn't played a game as yet this year, so that's really exciting for our club and our supporters.
"...George will unleash himself, there's no question about that. We probably have to have a little bit of a harness on him, not when he's on the ground, but just a harness in terms of the amount of game time he has.
"He's had a really good conditioning block over the last four weeks, and that's (encompassed) two games of footy in the reserves, so we feel he's well prepared, but there's always a big step in intensity from one level to the next.
"We understand that, but our conditioning staff and George himself reckon he's ready to play, so we back him in and let the lad get to work."
North Melbourne and Carlton's SuperClash for the Good Friday Appeal takes place at 3:20pm at Marvel Stadium, in a marquee game the Roos have won just once.
