Michael Stingel will make his return from injury this weekend as North Launceston host Glenorchy at UTAS Stadium.
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Injuring his ankle in the round three loss to Clarence, the young midfielder is one of six changes alongside co-captain Alex Lee, who is back after COVID.
Bombers coach Brad Cox-Goodyer, who initially said he'd wait until next week to play Stingel, praised the midfielder for his hard work to get back.
"He's been very diligent in his rehab and has gotten himself into a position where he's obviously able to train fully on Wednesday and the physio gave him a go a bit," he said.
"We were kind of arguing there for a little bit but he reassured me that [Michael] was ready to go and obviously with such a big stretch of football ahead for him, it's good to get him back.
"We'll just manage his load in and probably look after him a little bit where we can but we are super excited to have him back on the team. I think we all know what his talents are so it will be good to get him back out there."
On the other side of the coin, North will lose their Devils quintet of Lachie Cowan, Brandon Leary, Heath Ollington, Seth Campbell and Mitch Nicholas, while Dom Hay is having a week off to rest some niggles and Oscar Harper comes out.
Harry Bayles, Charlie Skipper, Connor Leeflang, Josh Rickard and Lockie Mitchell come in alongside Lee and Stingel with the Bombers having built some belief after a gutsy win over the second-placed Tigers last week in below-par conditions.
"It will be good for the guys to build off last week and cement our spot in the top four because it's looking pretty congested from one through to five at the moment," Cox-Goodyer said.
"It's good for the competition and keeps us on our toes.
"I think it's supposed to be a bit wet again so it's not ideal but we've got to show up on the day, play the way we need to play and adjust to the conditions."
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