Melbourne forward Tom McDonald will have scans on his troublesome foot on Thursday afternoon but is still expected to face Adelaide in Alice Springs on Sunday. 

The defender-turned-forward failed to finish training in Melbourne on Thursday and sought the advice of club medical staff before leaving the ground.

He missed the opening five rounds of the season with a toe injury, and coach Simon Goodwin said McDonald had remained sore after the Demons' 109-point win over Carlton on Sunday.

Despite admitting concern over the latest flare-up, Goodwin said McDonald was expected to make the trip with the team and would be given every chance to prove his fitness.

"He'll jump on the plane and travel up, we've got a training session up in Alice on Saturday, so we'll wait and see how he goes," Goodwin said on Thursday.

"It's more precautionary, taking him off the track. We're pretty confident that we've still got some training ahead of us and he'll be right to play as it stands today.

"We certainly won't be taking a risk with Tom, he's working his way back, we've been really monitoring his loads and he's a bit sore still from the game on the weekend.

"But in saying that, we're comfortable it might settle down as well, so he didn't have to do the full session today, he's gone off for a scan and we'll check all that out and take a cautious approach.

"As it stands, he'll play."

However, the Demons will take no risks with their important forward, who has kicked 13 goals in four games.

"It's something we've had to work through for a while now," Goodwin said.

"As I said, we'll be cautious with it.

"Of course, it's worrying because you've got a player that's in really good form that hasn't trained, but at the same time, as it stands right now, he's confident in his own mind that with a couple more days and training on Saturday, he'll be right to go."