Richmond are desperate for Ty Vickery to prove his fitness and help combat the in-form Essendon rucks in Saturday night’s AFL blockbuster.

The versatile ruck-forward missed last weekend’s upset win over Sydney with a calf injury and he did running drills on Tuesday morning away from the main training session.

Coach Damien Hardwick said Bombers ruckman Tom Bellchambers was showing close to All-Australian form.

Bellchambers and Paddy Ryder have been outstanding for Essendon, who have a 6-1 record, and the Tigers want to bring back Vickery if possible to provide support for Ivan Maric.

Vickery has not been in peak form, but he could prove invaluable as back-up in the ruck on Saturday night.

“He’s an important player to our structure, obviously with Bellchambers and Ryder, they’re two formidable foes to come up against,” Hardwick said.

“If Ty is available, he’ll certainly play, so we just have to make sure we get him through the week and see how he goes.

“We’re going to have our hands full this week.

“Bellchambers has been outstanding – there’s a fair argument he’s in All-Australian form at the moment.”

The strong form of the two teams will mean a crowd of more than 80,000 for their annual Dreamtime At The ‘G indigenous tribute match.