The Bulldogs have taken a cautious approach, gradually ramping up Liberatore’s workload after he cleared concussion protocols last month.
Coach Luke Beveridge said Liberatore had to get through training without any complications to be selected for Friday’s clash with the Lions at Marvel Stadium – and the midfielder was subsequently involved in Wednesday’s session.
“He should be fine,” Beveridge said.
“He’s been training with the group and getting through most things. So we anticipate that he’ll be OK.”
Renowned for his ferocious attack on the ball, Liberatore has been fine-tuning his technique in approaching contests.
“We’ve done a bit of that with him,” Beveridge said of addressing Liberatore’s ‘see ball, get ball’ approach.
“You see the commitment and the head-first stuff, we want him to do it a little bit differently.
“(When the) instincts kick in, he might not be able to. The players are looking after each other a little bit more as the games continue to be ticked off.
“But we’ve done a little bit of work, and that’ll continue.”
Beveridge said Liberatore “seems to bounce back pretty quickly” from head knocks in terms of symptoms, but the Bulldogs would continue to be careful with his game management.
“We’ve been conservative, been ultra-conservative, with him. But as far as head scans and all that he appears fine,” he said.
“Historically, not many players have come back from concussions, even after missing the 12 days, and out-performed and played extremely well – it seems to be a pattern.
“So you’re always a little bit nervous about how a player is going to reintroduce themselves on-field and how they’re going to go.
“So he’ll play, hopefully he gets through the session, but he’ll play close to his usual game time.
“We’ll probably be a bit conservative with him in his management.”
Richards, whose move into midfield from defence has proved a revelation, hasn’t fully recovered from his concussion against Sydney in round 11.
“He didn’t perform as well as we thought he should have in his substantive testing,” Beveridge said.
“So we’re just being a bit cautious, making sure he’s OK.
“He seems fine, he’s a bit frustrated – he wants to play. But we’ll just hold him out for another week.”
The 11th-placed Bulldogs (6-6) will ponder a forward-line reshuffle against Brisbane (13th, 4-1-6), with Sam Darcy (suspension) joining Aaron Naughton and Cody Weightman on the sidelines for the next two games.
Recruit James Harmes (hamstring) is injured while Laitham Vandermeer (hamstring) will have to prove his fitness.