Assistant coach Scott Camporeale says Brad Crouch and Rory Laird are still in the frame for Round One despite not featuring in any of the Club's AFL pre-season games.
Crouch, 20, has been on a modified training program because of sore Achilles. The Rising Star runner-up will have his first official hit-out of the year in Adelaide's SANFL trial match against Sturt at AAMI Stadium on Saturday.
Laird has also been managed over the past month because of an adductor complaint. He won't play at any level this weekend, but is expected to be available for selection for the Crows' season-opener against Geelong on Thursday, March 20.
Adelaide has named a strong team to play Greater Western Sydney in the Club's last AFL game before Round One, with forwards ToLynch and Eddie Betts recalled to the squad.
“We'll have pretty much a full compliment other than Crouch and Laird, who you would say are in our best 22. Obviously, Ricky Henderson (ankle), Nathan van Berlo (Achilles) and Taylor Walker (knee) are injured, but of the guys that are available it'll be our strongest side (of the pre-season),” Camporeale said.
“Our first game is still 2-3 weeks away. It'll really depend on how much conditioning Crouch and Laird can get in before Round One. We'll see how they go. We're still trying to monitor their minutes because they've missed a fair bit of training.
“They're invaluable players for us especially with the other two (van Berlo and Henderson) going down, so we'll make a decision on them week-by-week.
“Most of the guys are in pretty good touch. It's going to be a tough match committee the week leading into the Geelong game that's for sure."
The trial against GWS will be Lynch's first game since having surgery on his foot in September.
“Lynchy's had a limited preparation, but he's right to go now,” Camporeale said.
“Lynchy is a real Club favourite. The boys love playing with him and he's a different kind of forward for us. He gives us another option up forward and it'll be interesting to see what the chemistry is like between Lynch, Eddie Betts and James Podsiadly.”
Camporeale said Adelaide would use the match at Blacktown, which starts at 2pm (AEDT) and will be streamed live on afc.com.au as a full-scale dress rehearsal for the start of the season proper.
“We've been reasonably happy with what we've rolled out in the first two games. We still need to fine tune what we want to do for Round One against Geelong,” he said.
“Tomorrow will be about more of that fine tuning of the structures we want to use and also managing game time for certain players. There might also be a couple of things we look at personnel or position-wise for not only Round One but the rest of the year.”
The Giants recorded their first victory of the year with a big win over St Kilda last weekend.
Camporeale said the improvement in the developing team was already apparent.
“We can't underestimate what GWS can do,” he said.
“Their list is another 12 months older and they've got some experience in with Heath Shaw, Josh Hunt and Shane Mumford, so they've got some big bodies there for us to contend with. I'd be surprised if our guys take it lightly.
“Winning form is good form. We don't play for another two weeks after this, so we're really keen for a good performance.”
Saturday's SANFL trial game against Sturt coincides with the Adelaide Football Club's annual Member's Day. Entry to the trial is free. Non-members are also encouraged to attend and join as a member on the day.
