North Melbourne ruck Kim Rennie is a chance of returning to action this weekend after escaping serious injury during Saturday's AFLW practice match against Essendon.
Rennie's participation in the tune-up win against the Bombers lasted barely a minute after she received a knock to her knee in the opening passage of play.
Senior physiotherapist Billy Williams said Rennie, who played every game as the Kangaroos' first-choice ruck last season, had being cleared of any structural damage.
"The knock to her knee was quite painful and we decided to offload her as a precaution," Williams said.
"However her knee is testing well without any structural injury. She will be a test at training this week but we're hopeful she'll get up for our match sim against the Saints on Saturday."
North Melbourne skipper Jas Garner, who was rested against the Bombers, has the all-clear to captain Australia in Saturday's representative game against Ireland.
Garner and forward Bella Eddey completed running sessions after sitting out the practice match, and Williams confirmed both will be available to play this weekend.
Experienced stars Jenna Bruton and Emma Kearney are closing on their playing returns from their hamstring injuries.
Bruton is expected to return to play in next weekend's intraclub, while former captain Kearney is a chance of being available for the Roos' opening matches.
"Emma has been completing her rehab and progressing her running loads comfortably," Williams said.
"She still has some milestones to tick off before returning to training with the group, but is trending as expected with respect to her hamstring injury timeline.
"We'll continue to monitor her over the next week and look to have her available in Round 1 or 2."
Nicole Bresnehan remains 5-6 weeks away from completing her rehab from the ACL injury she suffered last season. Bresnehan is back training with the team and targeting a return sometime after Round 4, Williams said.
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The Kangaroos face St Kilda in a 1pm match sim at RSEA Stadium on Saturday, ahead of the 4.15pm Australia v Ireland game at North Sydney Oval on the same day.
The club's AFLW premiership defence begins with a double-header against Geelong at Marvel Stadium on the weekend of August 13-16.
