Adelaide Port Adelaide coach Ken Hinkley on Saturday hinted at the frustration of the season being two weeks away and not knowing whether Angus Monfries and star recruit Patrick Ryder will be available because of their link with Essendon and the drawn-out ASADA saga.
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But he declared if they were available, he would have no hesitation in picking them for the season opener against Fremantle at Domain Stadium despite their not playing a pre-season NAB Challenge game.
"I have not entertained picking them to be honest because I just don't know what is going to happen," Hinkley said.
"The difference to me and James (Essendon coach James Hird) is that he has lived it and sees every bit of the information. I have not got enough information to make an honest assessment.
"My thinking is that, if they are not available, we have a good enough side to go and play with.
"If they are available? They are handy players. We still have two more weeks of training. We would have to look at that and make some strong assessments.
"I do fall into playing good players though. They have no injury issues; there is nothing to say that they can't compete. I couldn't see why I wouldn't seriously consider (picking them)... I think it makes us more dangerous."
Hinkley is also prepared to pick key players Jackson Trengove, Chad Wingard and Hamish Hartlett first-up despite injury-plagued preparations.
Port lost to Adelaide by 24 points in a one-off return to Football Park, but neither Hinkley nor Walsh saw too much in the result, focusing on areas in which they need to play better.
"It was good that we played a team that was up and about and ready to play," Hinkley said. "It was some strong hard footy.
"Adelaide defended us really well, which is great credit to them. We just weren't at our bravest like we needed to be. Some of our transition was elite at times but we just did not challenge them enough. We know we have improvement to come."
Adelaide will further assess a foot injury to brilliant onballer Brad Crouch over the next few days.
Coach Phil Walsh said he was really happy early with the Crows' pressure around the ball.
"We were able to hold the ball in our forward half for quite some time; that's a vision of how I want the team to play. That really excited me for a period of time.
"As a team, when Port Adelaide got the ball and tried to move it, we all moved as a team to get into a defensive structure. In the two games previously I would say we only had three quarters of the team do that.
"We have played three really strong teams so I was happy with that preparation. For more than 50 per cent of the three games I have been happy, but there is still quite a bit of work to do. As everyone knows, round one is finals intensity."
