The news of Tom Liberatore’s impending return to playing could buoy the team this week, coach Luke Beveridge says.

The 32-year-old has been sidelined since Round 8 following two concussions in close proximity, with the club yesterday confirming the fan favourite had cleared all tests and would be in a position to return to availability in the next few weeks.

“I think it’s just as simple as that timeline at the moment,” Beveridge said.

“Obviously there’s a lot of time and commitment to making sure that Tom’s wellbeing is at the forefront of our thinking, which has happened.

“He’s been training...so I think physically he’ll be okay. He’s able to do everything. We’ll introduce him into the main football drills prior to his return to play.

“If he’s comfortable then he’ll come back into the team. I think we’ve said two to three weeks, so it’ll be one of those.”

Beveridge said while this marks a positive milestone in Liberatore’s recovery, measures might be put in place to try and avoid any further head-high hits.

“The topic of concussion at the moment and the effect of it on our game, and how sensitive we are to our players’ health – it’s a challenge to talk about it because it’s not like he’s just out of the woods, and he comes back and plays and everything’s okay,” Beveridge said.

“Every time anyone who has never had a concussion goes for the footy in a collision type of situation, you hold your breath. Sometimes you even think ‘don’t go for this one’...you can see the velocity and the commitment of the players, and our guys have rarely pulled out of those.

“With Tom, when he comes back there’ll still be that nervousness that he might cop another knock.

“I was talking with him this morning around technique and craft, and some of the situations where he’s been hit in the head and what we can do to mitigate against it happening again.

“We’ll do a bit of work with that in between now and when he returns to play.”

Beveridge said following the premature retirement of youngster Aiden O’Driscoll last week, he hopes Liberatore’s news provides another spark for the team this week ahead of a clash against Sydney.

“When something happens in game, where one of the boys’ teammates goes down or there's a significant injury - whether it's head or somewhere else - the endocrine system works in different ways with different individuals. We've seen players fall apart in a situation like that...it can affect you as a team,” he said.

“With Aiden happening a while ago but (still having) the emotions of the week, I think our players had time to process it and take some inspiration from (Aiden).

“I think based on that and what’s happened to Tom, we’re all just a bit relieved that Tom’s okay and he’s able to play again.

“There’s a real positive in that for us – I’m not sure how that reflects in our performance, but everyone’s pretty buoyed by the news around Tom.”

The Bulldogs will confirm their Round 11 team tomorrow night, Wednesday 22 May, at 6.20pm AEST.