RICHMOND'S two Nathans — Foley and Brown — have not been ruled out of contention for this weekend's must-win match against Fremantle, although Foley is believed to be more of a chance to play.

Both are troubled by hip injuries, although coach Terry Wallace said yesterday Brown had also been working through a leg injury that, fortunately, was not to the leg he broke three seasons ago.

"They're both still in calculation. Nathan's (Foley) probably done more in our skill session (yesterday) just from a running point of view than what Brownie did, Brownie was still stationary," Wallace said.

"But it is still early in the week, so we'll give both those boys an opportunity to come up later in the week. But I would say Nathan Foley's ahead of Nathan Brown at the minute."

Wallace said Brown was working to overcome "two or three on-going problems over about a period of three or four weeks" and had been spending most training sessions in that time in sneakers rather than boots doing skills work.

"One is a leg (injury) from a knock, one is a hip from a knock, both of them were collision injuries, the leg knock isn't his bad leg (which he broke), it's the other leg," Wallace said.

"So he's had a couple of things that have been niggling away.

"Whether he comes up or not, as I said after the game on Sunday, we haven't put either of them away, they are certainly still up for selection and calculation over the two weeks."

Youngster Daniel Connors is certain to retain his place after kicking three goals in what was probably his best senior game for the club, although the news wasn't so good for injured half-back Andrew Raines, who has been ruled out for the rest of the season.

"We've basically put him away for the year," Wallace said of Raines, who has only managed two senior games this season.

"He just had ongoing problems since that dislocation of the knee. It took him quite a while to get over that, (then) he started to get a few other related injuries on the same leg.

"If we needed him to play … from a fitness point of view he'd be OK to play, but he's been sort of de-conditioned because he hasn't been able to get the games into himself. We thought it was in his best interest to almost start his pre-season early."

Wallace described 2008 as a horror year for Raines but predicted the 2006 NAB Rising Star runner-up would "come back harder and fitter and more determined the next time around and that's exactly what we're hoping with Andrew".

An upset 29-point win over Hawthorn has put the Tigers on a high coming into the match against Fremantle on Saturday, but Wallace said the club would be remiss in underestimating the Dockers.

"We show them respect. Their contested footy game's improved and their clearance footy game's improved, … so we don't take them lightly."