Former North Ballarat Rebels footballer, Melbourne's Tom McDonald has run out of time to be part of the AFL squad for Friday night's qualifying final against Sydney.

McDonald made a successful return from four months on the sidelines last weekend for Casey in the VFL, but the club has declared that he is too big of a risk to be included in the finals team after just one game back.

Demons backline coach Troy Chaplin, who spoke to media on behalf of coach Simon Goodwin, who was missing with illness on Thursday morning, confirmed McDonald won't play at AFL level this weekend.

"I think what Tom has been able to do is just get himself back and we just need to get some games into him," Chaplin said.

"He's going to have another really good couple of sessions with the VFL team. Obviously they're into a prelim, so he's given himself every opportunity but I think just missing that much footy with the injury he's had, it's just too big of a risk for him.

"We'd hate for him to go down but also put him in a position where you're setting him up to fail. Playing only one game, it's just too big a risk. So, Tommy won't play."

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