After being substituted out of last week’s clash with Melbourne, North Melbourne defender Aiden Bonar is a chance to retain his spot in North’s side this week according to General Manager of Football Brady Rawlings.

Bonar was substituted out of the game due to a “corky” suffered in the second quarter, when he copped a knee to the quad from skipper Jack Ziebell. 

Rawlings North medical staff will continue to assess the defender with the hope of him returning to training as soon as possible.

“There’s been a huge focus on recovery up until today and we’ll aim for him to take part in main training on Thursday with the hope he gets through,” Rawlings told North Media.

“Obviously with these things you need to assess how the player functions at training and when they’re confident in their own body as well. There’s still a bit to play out.

“I certainly wouldn’t rule him out with a cork at this stage of the week, but if there aren’t the improvements required before the game then we won’t risk playing someone who isn’t 100 per cent.”

Bonar has been a strong contributor to North’s back six this season, with the former midfielder has showcasing his ability to play on a variety of different forwards.

Rawlings says despite Bonar’s enthusiasm to re-enter the action against Melbourne last weekend there was no way he would have been able to play through the injury.

“It’s a really bad corky, and obviously with a corky we try and get the guys moving on the bench, we assess their strength and see if they can get back out there,” he said.

“Bon was really keen to get back out there as well, but after a few minutes it was pretty clear his movement was really limited and he was lacking strength in the muscle.”