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Melbourne Demons Steven May, Kysaiah Pickett sore at training as they work to get fit for Fremantle game

Melbourne coach Simon Goodwin was the bearer of more bad news for Melbourne fans as he conceded two of his top players would need to overcome injury to play in their must-win MCG game on Saturday.

Oliver Caffrey
AAP
To break it all down we're joined by Walkley Award winning journalist Caroline Wilson, as well as NRL legend Brett Kimmorley.

Steven May and Kysaiah Pickett have barely trained, but Melbourne coach Simon Goodwin expects the premiership stars to be available to take on Fremantle.

Already without star backman Jake Lever for up to another 10 weeks, the winless Demons could be without All-Australian defender May for a crunch clash with the Dockers on Easter Saturday.

May didn’t feature in an open training session in front of fans at Casey Fields on Tuesday and was spotted hobbling around the venue off field.

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Pickett was restricted to running light laps after rolling his ankle in Saturday night’s loss to Essendon.

May is dealing with plantar fasciitis in his heel.

“It’s Tuesday, the first session, so he (Pickett) will train fully Thursday and be right to go on the weekend,” Goodwin said.

“Steven had an incident in the game with his plantar fasciitis, but in a lot of ways it’s a positive incident, because it’s a tear that helps the recovery.

“We’re hopeful that he’ll get up for Thursday and be right to go on the weekend.

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“In some ways, an incident that is pretty painful at the time can be a real positive moving forward.”

Steven May greets fans.
Steven May greets fans. Credit: Morgan Hancock/Getty Images

Goodwin added they wouldn’t take a risk with May, but expected the 33-year-old to be in a defence that will need to handle red-hot Fremantle forward Josh Treacy, who is the equal leader of the Coleman Medal.

Lever suffered a major setback last week in his recovery from an ankle issue sustained against North Melbourne in round two.

“He’s obviously frustrated,” Goodwin said of Lever.

“He had a pretty strong pre-season in terms of getting himself prepared.

“He’s clearly going to be out for eight to 10 weeks, so he’s recovering.”

Kysaiah Pickett ran laps seperate to the main group during a Melbourne Demons training session.
Kysaiah Pickett ran laps seperate to the main group during a Melbourne Demons training session. Credit: Morgan Hancock/Getty Images

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