RATHER than be a hindrance to Dayne Zorko's nagging Achilles, the upcoming compression of matches might actually help it improve.
The Brisbane captain hurt his calf against Fremantle in round two, missed the following week and then returned in round four only to leave the field with an Achilles problem.
He missed just one more match before playing the past two against Port Adelaide and GWS.
Starting with Sunday's clash against Melbourne at Metricon Stadium, the Lions have four games in 14 days, but the 31-year-old is not concerned.
He said he's confident of playing all four.
"I was talking to our rehab coordinator this morning and he said it should actually feel better because there's more load going through it," Zorko said.
"If we can manage it really well over this period, in the back-end (of the season) it should be really really good, so a little bit of positivity about it."
The main problem for Zorko was the plantaris tendon, which was irritating the adjoining achilles.
Once that was torn following the round four hiccup, the recovery began.
"It's no longer irritating the achilles, so all that's left is tendonitis, which players play with all the time."
Zorko is one player the Lions will keep a close eye on over the tight upcoming schedule, but the skipper said the club had not spoken about resting anyone at this stage.
"I'm sure that will get looked at early next week," he said.
"We really are focused on Melbourne this week. We had an eight-day break, everyone's fresh, everyone's ready to play.
"It's a really important game for us, they're in red hot form and we need to be able to match it with them."