Luke Beveridge has flagged the surprise return of Lin Jong to the senior side just two weeks after it was thought his season had ended after injuring his collarbone in the first elimination final against West Coast.

The midfielder suffered the injury in the second quarter of the Bulldogs’ 47-point win after a heavy tackle from Eagles defender, Jeremy McGovern. 

But Beverdige, speaking to media at Whitten Oval this morning that provided he gets through a training session today, he will be in the selection mix for Saturday.

“Surprisingly enough, Lin Jong has come up really healthy after his collarbone and he’ll train today; see how he goes, Beveridge said.

“If he gets through today and there’s no problems – Greg Hoy has done an amazing job with the surgery there – then we’ll consider him. 

“But we won’t take any risks.”

Jong has averaged 17 touches and almost five tackles a contest in 16 senior games this season and was coming off his best game of the season, a 28 disposal, six mark, four tackles performance against Fremantle in round 23.

Beveridge said if the 23-year-old gets through today’s session, he’ll play, it’s just a matter of whether it’s against the Giants, or for Footscray in Sunday’s VFL grand final.

“We’ll probably put him through everything we need to really make sure, and he’s really sure, so it’ll be up to him in the end,” he said.

“But if he comes through and says, ‘look, I’m right to go’, then he’ll definitely picked at one level.  We’ve just got to decide which.”