Adelaide expect key forward Riley Thilthorpe to overcome injury and play in their season opener, as a novice ruck firms to make his debut for the Crows.
All-Australian Thilthorpe missed Adelaide's last pre-season game against Fremantle in Western Australia because of a back complaint.
But Crows coach Matthew Nicks is bullish about the club's attacking linchpin facing Collingwood at the MCG on Saturday night.
"He's in a good space at the moment," Nicks told reporters on Wednesday.
"We'll train today and get a last look at, a feeling, on how he's going.
"Digging down into that one a little more, it just wasn't worth us risking Riley, it just didn't make sense to play him in a practice match.
"We can get the work into him through training - yes, it's not the bash-and-crash and change of direction that you get in a game scenario.
"But we got enough work into him that we're confident he'll get through a session today and be right to play."
Nicks is considering Lachlan McAndrew for a club debut - the 201cm ruckman played two AFL games for Sydney in 2023.
McAndrew was given first crack at leading Adelaide's rucks in the pre-season after rule changes disadvantaged usual first-choice tap-man Reilly O'Brien.
O'Brien was renowned as a grappling style of ruckman, which is now outlawed at centre bounces.
"Rob (O'Brien) has been challenged this year with a rule change - and it's a big one, it's a huge rule change," Nicks said.
"Talking with Rob ... he hadn't practised the run and jump for a long time, for a number of years. As a lot of rucks had, they worked on a different craft.
"We've seen him transform that in a really short period of time ... don't write Rob off at all.
"But in the same breath, Lachie, he's unique that he's 210 (tall), he's got a big jump on him, so from a centre-bounce point of view, he's in a good position."
Midfielder Jake Soligo was pushing to play after having a procedure to correct an irregular heartbeat.
The 23-year-old played just one half of football in Adelaide's pre-season trial games.
