North Melbourne will wait until Wednesday before making a call on the fitness of as many as four senior players ahead of Thursday night's clash with Adelaide.
Captain Andrew Swallow, midfielder Ben Cunnington and forward Jarrad Waite all missed Friday night’s loss to Hawthorn because of injury.
Kangaroos coach Brad Scott said it was too early to say whether the star trio would be fit to play against the Crows at Adelaide Oval.
“Due to the short turnaround, I think it will be a tough ask for all of them to get up. That being said, all three were pretty close to being ready for Friday,” Scott said on Monday.
“We will assess them, probably, as late as Wednesday before we make that decision.”
Swallow was concussed in a heavy tackle from Lincoln McCarthy during North Melbourne’s Round 12 loss to Geelong.
Cunnington suffered a corked thigh in the first quarter of the same game.
Waite missed the match against the Hawks, and admitted to Triple M that he’d been bothered by a hip injury for a few weeks.
“I shouldn’t have played last week (against Geelong),” Waite said.
“Hopefully, it’s just the one week (I miss).
“It was just affecting the way I’ve been able to move and I was immobile, which is probably one of my biggest strengths.”
In-form onballer Daniel Wells is also under an injury cloud after rolling his ankle against Hawthorn.
Wells limped from the ground in the second quarter and needed his ankle re-strapped, but was able to finish the game.
Scott said Wells would be given every opportunity to prove his fitness.
“Due to the short (six-day) turnaround I think there’s some doubt,” he said.
“‘Wellsy’ falls into the category of the three (Cunnington, Swallow and Waite) just talked about.”
The Kangaroos are likely to be without young defender Luke McDonald, who injured his hamstring chasing down Cyril Rioli on Friday night.
McDonald is set for an extended stint on the sidelines, and the club will be seeking a surgical opinion on the 21 year-old’s hamstring according to Scott.
"He's being assessed as we speak for something we hope is not too serious, but it's serious enough for us to seek a surgical opinion,” he said.
"I'm not quite sure to that extent (if his season is in doubt). I made some comments earlier this year about injuries and giving a prognosis and what was clear from those comments was I'm not a doctor.
"I'll wait until we've got definitive answers for you there."
Jack Ziebell is free to play after the Match Review Panel found the Kangaroos vice-captain had no case to answer for his collision with Hawks champion Sam Mitchell.
