Around The Grounds

• Sydney's $331k midfielder Jarrad McVeigh has claimed he'll be okay to resume in the AFL this round having been a late withdrawal with a hamstring against Carlton on the weekend. McVeigh said, "In the warm-up it didn’t feel right so I decided not to risk it. We thought it was better to miss one week than one month. I felt it in the week before in the match against North and with the short week we thought it would be right but I could feel it not being totally free during the warm-up so it was better to be safe than sorry.”

• $197k North Melbourne defender Jesse Smith is on the comeback from injury but the Kangas claim they may not risk the injury-prone youngster in the AFL this season. North footy manager Donald McDonald said, "At this stage we just want him to recover well from the game and then we’ll meet at match committee as to where he’ll play this week but he’ll be in the VFL again."

• Smith's $215k North teammate Gavin Urquhart has been listed on the Kangas' injury list as out for 1/2 weeks with a groin injury. Nevertheless McDonald said, "It’s probably going to be one of those ones where we won’t know until Thursday’s training as to whether or not he’ll be available for selection this week.”