Sewell has not played for the Cats since round 10 when he had surgery to repair a tendon in his finger, but trained with the main group on Thursday night and was named on an extended interchange bench.

He told The Courier on Friday that his hand didn’t feel too bad following the session and that he would do more ball work before Sunday’s battle with Hepburn. He will then make a call on availability.

“I’m probably closer to 80-20 or 70-30,” Sewell said when asked if he was a 50-50 chance to play against the Burras.

Despite not wanting to jeopardise his season, Sewell said it was an easy decision to get the surgery done after round 10.

“I was hoping to wait until after the season, but (experts) said to either get it done as soon as possible or have the joint fused and not be able to use it again,” Sewell said.

Sewell was in brilliant form in his role off half back before being sidelined and would be a huge inclusion for the Cats if he is right to play on Sunday.

Newlyn is up against a Hepburn side that won the teams’ clash back in round one and is attempting to claim back-to-back Central Highlands Football League premierships.

Sunday’s knockout final will be played at Dunnstown, with the winner then going on to meet the loser of the battle between Beaufort and Gordon.

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