JACK Martin is expected to make his long-awaited return to action this weekend.

After going down in the final moments of an impressive solo showing against Collingwood back in Round 2, the dynamic forward is in line to return in the Navy Blue on Sunday.

Having recovered from his PCL injury and undergoing a reconditioning phase in recent weeks, Martin is a likely returnee for this weekend’s clash with the Swans.

“Jack has been out for a little while now: he’s had a really good block of work for the last 3-4 weeks,” Director of High Performance Andrew Russell said.

“His knee looks great and he’s in really good condition. We expect him to play this week.”

He won’t be alone as the Blues hoping to return to action this weekend, with Paddy Dow and Levi Casboult also likely to be available.

Dow was withdrawn late last week due to hamstring tightness, while Casboult was managed after playing every game prior to the weekend’s win over Hawthorn.

Then, there’s the case of Zac Fisher, who is pushing to be available for selection as early as next weekend.

“He’s been training hard for the last 3-4 weeks,” Russell said.

“He’s done a good reconditioning block as we do with the majority of the boys coming back from long-term injuries.

“We fully expect him to be playing some level of football next week.”

Corey Durdin will be unavailable until after the mid-season VFL bye after a low-grade hamstring strain sustained in the warm-up of Sunday’s clash.

Meanwhile, the Blues have made the call to withdraw Sam Philp from action until the end of the season due to groin soreness.

“We’ve been managing his groins since pre-season: we felt that he was really getting there and that his groins had settled down,” he said.

“When the loads have gone up and we’ve introduced game play, the groins haven’t quite handled that load. We’ve decided to take him out for the season, which is unfortunate for him in the short term.

“The positive is that we can really settle him down and give him a good rest, strengthen him up and get him ready to have a full pre-season.

“I’ve worked with a lot of young guys that, at this stage of their career, have had groin issues and all of them have come back to play long careers and been very good AFL footballers. We expect Sam to be in that boat.”